Cherokee treaties

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The Cherokee have participated in over forty treaties in the past three hundred years.

Contents

Pre-American Revolution

Treaty between two Cherokee towns with English traders of Carolina, 1684
Established a steady trade in deerskins and Indian slaves. Cherokee leaders who signed were: the Raven (Corani or Kalanu); Sinnawa the Hawk (Tawodi); Nellawgitchi (possibly Mankiller); Gorhaleke; Owasta; – all from Toxawa; and Canacaught (the Great Conqueror); Gohoma; and Caunasaita of Keowa. In 1690 the first trader established himself among the Cherokee people, and took a native wife. He was Cornelius Doughtery, an Irishman from Virginia. Although contact was limited initially to white traders, important changes began to occur within the Cherokee society as a result. Leadership shifted from priest to warrior, and warriors became hunters for profit. In 1690, the secretary of the colony, James Moore, ventured into the Cherokee country looking for gold. Some Cherokee chiefs visited Charleston in 1693 demanding firearms for their wars against neighboring tribes. [1]
Treaty with South Carolina, 1721
Ceded land between the Santee, Saluda, and Edisto Rivers to the Province of South Carolina.
Treaty of Nikwasi, 1730
Trade agreement with the newly formed royal colony of North Carolina through Alexander Cuming.
Treaty of Whitehall, 1730
"Articles of Trade and Friendship" between the Cherokee and the English colonies. Signed between seven Cherokee chiefs (including Attakullakulla) and George II of Great Britain.
Treaty with South Carolina, 24 November 1755
Ceded land between the Wateree and Savannah Rivers to the Province of South Carolina.
Treaty with North Carolina, 1756
Treaty of alliance during the French and Indian War.
Treaty of Charlestown, 18 December 1761
Ended the Anglo-Cherokee War with the Province of South Carolina.
Treaty of Long-Island-on-the-Holston, 20 November 1761
Ended the Anglo-Cherokee War with the Colony of Virginia.
Treaty of Johnson Hall, 12 March 1768
Guaranteed peace between the Cherokee on one side and the Iroquois, the Seven Confederate Nations, and the Caughnawaga on the other.
Treaty of Hard Labour, 14 October 1768
Ceded land in southwestern Virginia to the British Indian Superintendent, John Stuart. [2]
Treaty of Lochaber, 18 October 1770
Ceded land in the later states of Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky to the Colony of Virginia.
Treaty with Virginia, early 1772
Ceded land in Virginia and eastern Kentucky to the Colony of Virginia. This actually seems to have been an 'arrangement' made pursuant to the Treaty of Lochaber in 1771, not a bona fide treaty.
Treaty of Augusta, 1 June 1773
Ceded Cherokee claim to 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km2) between Little and Tugaloo Rivers to the Colony of Georgia.
Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, 14 March 1775
Ceded claims to the hunting grounds between the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers to the Transylvania Land Company.

Pre-U.S. Constitution

Treaty of Dewitt's Corner, 20 May 1777
Ceded the lands of the Cherokee Lower Towns in the State of South Carolina, except for a narrow strip of what is now Oconee County.
Treaty of Fort Henry, 20 July 1777
Confirmed the cession of the lands to the Watauga Association with the States of Virginia and North Carolina.
Treaty of Long-Island-on-the-Holston, 26 July 1781
Peace treaty between the Overhill, Valley, and Middle Towns, and the Overmountain settlers that confirmed former cessions but gave up no additional land.
Treaty of Augusta Archived 2016-03-13 at the Wayback Machine , [3] 25 May 1783
The Cherokees ceded their lands between the Savannah and Keowee rivers on the east and the Oconee River on the west in Georgia.
Treaty of Long Swamp Creek, 30 May 1783
Confirmed the northern boundary of the State of Georgia with the Cherokee, between the latter and that state, with the Cherokee ceding large amounts of land between the Savannah and Chattachoochee Rivers to the State of Georgia.
Treaty of Pensacola, 30 May 1784
For alliance and commerce between New Spain and the Cherokee and Muscogee.
Treaty of Dumplin Creek, 10 June 1785
Ceded the "territory south of the French Broad and Holston Rivers and west of the Big Pigeon River" and east of the ridge dividing Little River from the Tennessee River to the State of Franklin.
Treaty of Hopewell, 28 November 1785
Ceded lands south of the Cumberland River in north central Tennessee.
Treaty of Coyatee, 3 August 1786
Made with the State of Franklin at gunpoint, this treaty ceded the remaining land north and east of the Little Tennessee River to the ridge dividing it from Little River.

Post-U.S. Constitution

Treaty of Holston, 2 July 1791
Established boundaries between the United States and the Cherokee. Guaranteed by the United States that the lands of the Cherokee have not been ceded to the United States.
Treaty of Philadelphia, 17 February 1792
Supplemented the previous Holston treaty regarding annuities, etc.
Treaty of Walnut Hills, 10 April 1792
Between the Spanish governor in New Orleans and the Cherokee, Muscogee, Choctaw, and Seminole in which the former promised the latter military protection.
Treaty of Pensacola, 26 September 1792
Between the Chickamauga Cherokee (or Lower Cherokee) under John Watts and Arturo O'Neill, governor of Spanish West Florida, for arms and supplies with which to wage war against the United States.
Treaty of Philadelphia, 26 June 1794
Reaffirmed the provisions of the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell and the 1791 Treaty of Holston, particularly those regarding land cession.
Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse, 8 November 1794
Peace treaty with of the United States with the Lower Cherokee ending the Cherokee–American wars.
Treaty of Tellico, 2 October 1798
The boundaries promised in the previous treaty had not been marked and white settlers had come in. Because of this, the Cherokee were told they would need to cede new lands as an "acknowledgment" of the protection of the United States. The U.S. would guarantee the new Cherokee Nation could keep the remainder of its land "forever".
Treaty of Tellico, 24 October 1804
Ceded land.
Treaty of Tellico, 25 October 1805
Ceded land, including that for the Federal Road through the Cherokee Nation.
Treaty of Tellico, 27 October 1805
Ceded land for the state assembly of Tennessee, whose capital was then in East Tennessee, to meet upon.
Treaty of Washington, 7 January 1806
Ceded land.
Treaty of Fort Jackson, 9 August 1814
Ended the Creek War, demanded land from both the Muscogee (Creek) and the Cherokee.
Treaties of Washington, 22 March 1816
Ceded last remaining lands within the territory limits claimed by South Carolina to the state.
Treaty of Chickasaw Council House, 14 September 1816
Ceding land in northwestern Alabama.
Map of the Treaty of the Cherokee Agency, 8 July 1817 Land ceded by the Chiefs of the Cherokee nation of Indians to the United States for the Use of State of Georgia, at the Treaty of the 8th of July, 1817 - NARA - 102279404.jpg
Map of the Treaty of the Cherokee Agency, 8 July 1817
Treaty of the Cherokee Agency, 8 July 1817
Acknowledged the division between the Upper Towns, which opposed emigration, and the Lower Towns, which favored emigration, and provided benefits for those who chose to emigrate west and 640-acre (2.6 km2) reservations for those who did not, with the possibility of citizenship of the state they are in.
Treaty of Washington, 27 February 1819 (Calhoun Treaty)
Reaffirmed the Treaty of the Cherokee Agency of 1817, with a few added provisions specifying land reserves for certain Cherokee. [4]
Council Bluffs Treaty, 11 December 1821
Established a new boundary between the Cherokee and Creek nations. The north boundary was later used in the first survey of Carroll County, Georgia. [5]
Treaty of San Antonio de Bexar, with the Spanish Empire, 8 November 1822
Granted land in the province of Tejas in Spanish Mexico upon which the Texas Cherokee band of Richard Fields and The Bowl could live. Though signed by the Spanish governor of Tejas, the treaty was never ratified, neither by the Viceroyalty of New Spain nor by the succeeding First Mexican Empire or Republic of Mexico.
Treaty of Washington, 6 May 1828
Cherokee Nation West ceded its lands in Arkansas Territory for lands in what becomes Indian Territory. [6]
Treaty of New Echota, 29 December 1835
Surrendered to the United States the lands of the Cherokee Nation East in return for $5,000,000 to be disbursed on a per capita basis, an additional $500,000 is for educational funds, title in perpetuity to an equal amount of land in Indian Territory to that given up, and full compensation for all property left in the East. The treaty is rejected by the Cherokee National Council but approved by the U.S. Senate.
Treaty of Bowles Village with the Republic of Texas, 23 February 1836
Granted nearly 1,600,000 acres (6,500 km2) of east Texas land to the Texas Cherokees and twelve associated tribes. (Violation of this treaty led to the Cherokee War of 1839, during which most Cherokees were driven north into the Choctaw Nation or who fled south into Mexico. Following this bloody episode, remaining Texas Cherokees under Chicken Trotter joined Mexican forces in a guerrilla war, culminating in the invasion of San Antonio by Mexican General Adrian Woll. Cherokee and allied Indians saw action at the Battle of Salado Creek and against the Dawson regiment. Following this conflict, it was apparent that Mexico's intervention was not going to provide the remaining Texas Cherokees with any stability or lands in the Republic of Texas. This led to a push by newly re-installed Texas President Sam Houston for a peace treaty, in 1843).
Treaty of Bird's Fort with the Republic of Texas, 29 September 1843
Ended hostilities among several Texas tribes, including the Texas Cherokees as negotiated by Chicken Trotter. [7] The Treaty which was ratified by the Congress of the Republic of Texas, recognized the tribal status of the Texas Indians as distinct, including the Cherokees that would later become known as the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands-Mount Tabor Tabor Indian Community. President of Texas Sam Houston, adopted son of former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation West John Jolly, signed for the republic. This treaty, honored by the State of Texas following annexation, has never been abrogated by the Congress of the United States and in theory is still valid.
Treaty of Tehuacana Creek with the Republic of Texas, 1844
An additional treaty was made in which Chicken Trotter "Devereaux Jarrett Bell" and Wagon Bowles were involved, the latter being the son of Texas Cherokee Chief Bowles also known as Duwa'li or the Bowl. This treaty was approved by the Texas Senate only. Chicken Trotter and his brother John Adair Bell were some of the founders of the Mount Tabor Indian Community.
Treaty of Washington, 6 August 1846
Ended the covert war between the various factions that had been ongoing since 1839 and attempted to unite the Old Settlers, the Treaty Party, and the Latecomers (or National Party).
Treaty of Fort Smith, Arkansas, 13 September 1865
Recognized the claims of the John Ross party as the legitimate Cherokee Nation vis-a-vis those of the Stand Watie party as well as recognized a temporary cease-fire between the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Comanche, Creek, Osage, Quapaw, Seminole, Seneca, Shawnee, Wichita, and Wyandot, with the United States.
Treaty of the Cherokee Nation, 19 July 1866
Annulled "pretended treaty" with Confederate Cherokees; granted amnesty to Cherokees; established a US district court in Indian Territory; prevented the US from trading in the Cherokee Nation unless approved by the Cherokee council or taxing residents of the Cherokee Nation; established that all Cherokee Freedmen and free African-Americans living in the Cherokee Nation "shall have all the rights of native Cherokees"; established right of way for rivers, railroads, and other transportation their Cherokee lands; allowed for the US to settle other Indian people in the Cherokee Nation; prevented members of the US military from selling alcohol to Cherokees for non-medicinal purposes; ceded Cherokee lands in Kansas; and established boundaries and settlements for various individuals. [8]
Treaty of Washington, 29 April 1868
Supplemented the treaty of 1866 and also ceded the Cherokee Outlet in Indian Territory.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee</span> Indigenous American people of the southeastern United States

The Cherokee people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, edges of western South Carolina, northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama consisting of around 40,000 square miles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muscogee</span> Indigenous people from Southeastern Woodlands

The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy, are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands in the United States. Their historical homelands are in what now comprises southern Tennessee, much of Alabama, western Georgia and parts of northern Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historical regions of the United States</span>

The territory of the United States and its overseas possessions has evolved over time, from the colonial era to the present day. It includes formally organized territories, proposed and failed states, unrecognized breakaway states, international and interstate purchases, cessions, and land grants, and historical military departments and administrative districts. The last section lists informal regions from American vernacular geography known by popular nicknames and linked by geographical, cultural, or economic similarities, some of which are still in use today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768)</span> Treaty between Great Britain and the Iroquois people

The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty signed between representatives from the Iroquois and Great Britain in 1768 at Fort Stanwix. It was negotiated between Sir William Johnson, his deputy George Croghan, and representatives of the Iroquois.

The "Old Southwest" is an informal name for the southwestern frontier territories of the United States from the American Revolutionary War c. 1780, through the early 1800s, at which point the US had acquired the Louisiana Territory, pushing the southwestern frontier toward what is today known as the Southwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Cherokee War</span> Conflict between British forces and Cherokee bands in North America from 1758 to 1761

The Anglo-Cherokee War, was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherokee Rebellion. The war was a conflict between British forces in North America and Cherokee bands during the French and Indian War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Hopewell</span> Treaties between the U.S. and southeastern Indian tribes

Three agreements, each known as a Treaty of Hopewell, were signed between representatives of the Congress of the United States and the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw peoples. They were negotiated and signed at the Hopewell plantation in South Carolina over 45 days during the winter of 1785–86.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Holston</span> 1791 treaty between the U.S. and the Cherokees

The Treaty of Holston was a treaty between the United States government and the Cherokee signed on July 2, 1791, and proclaimed on February 7, 1792. It was negotiated and signed by William Blount, governor of the Southwest Territory and superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern district of the United States, and various representatives of the Cherokee peoples, most notably John Watts. The treaty established terms of relations between the United States and the Cherokee established that the Cherokee tribes were to fall under the protection of the United States, with the United States managing all future foreign affairs for all the loosely affiliated Cherokee tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee–American wars</span> Indian wars in the Old Southwest

The Cherokee–American wars, also known as the Chickamauga Wars, were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles in the Old Southwest from 1776 to 1794 between the Cherokee and American settlers on the frontier. Most of the events took place in the Upper South region. While the fighting stretched across the entire period, there were extended periods with little or no action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Lochaber</span> 1770 treaty between Great Britain and the Cherokee

The Treaty of Lochaber was signed in South Carolina on 18 October 1770 by British representative John Stuart and the Cherokee people, fixing the boundary for the western limit of the colonial frontier settlements of Virginia and North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tellico Blockhouse</span> United States historic place

The Tellico Blockhouse was an early American outpost located along the Little Tennessee River in what developed as Vonore, Monroe County, Tennessee. Completed in 1794, the blockhouse was a US military outpost that operated until 1807; the garrison was intended to keep peace between the nearby Overhill Cherokee towns and encroaching early Euro-American pioneers in the area in the wake of the Cherokee–American wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overhill Cherokee</span> 18th century Cherokee people who lived on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains

Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 18th-century European traders and explorers from British colonies along the Atlantic coast, as they had to cross the mountains to reach these settlements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Tellico</span> 1798 treaty between the U.S. and Cherokees

The Treaty With The Cherokee, 1798, also known as the First Treaty of Tellico, was signed on October 2, 1798, in the Overhill Cherokee settlement of Great Tellico near Tellico Blockhouse in Tennessee. This treaty served as an addendum to the Treaty of Holston and was the only treaty between the United States and Native Americans executed during the administration of President John Adams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Six Nations land cessions</span> Iroquois and Lenape land cessions to the colonial and later independent U.S. (1682–1797)

The Six Nations land cessions were a series of land cessions by the Haudenosaunee and Lenape which ceded large amounts of land, including both recently conquered territories acquired from other indigenous peoples in the Beaver Wars, and ancestral lands to the Thirteen Colonies and the United States. The land ceded covered, partially or in the entire, the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and North Carolina. They were bordered to the west by the Algonquian lands in the Ohio Country, Cherokee lands to the south, and Muscogee and Choctaw lands to the southeast.

The Cherokee people of the southeastern United States, and later Oklahoma and surrounding areas, have a long military history. Since European contact, Cherokee military activity has been documented in European records. Cherokee tribes and bands had a number of conflicts during the 18th century with Europeans, primarily British colonists from the Southern Colonies. The Eastern Band and Cherokees from the Indian Territory fought in the American Civil War, with bands allying with the Union or the Confederacy. Because many Cherokees allied with the Confederacy, the United States government required a new treaty with the nation after the war. Cherokees have also served in the United States military during the 20th and 21st centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee history</span>

Cherokee history is the written and oral lore, traditions, and historical record maintained by the living Cherokee people and their ancestors. In the 21st century, leaders of the Cherokee people define themselves as those persons enrolled in one of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes: The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, The Cherokee Nation, and The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.

The Chickamauga Cherokee were a Native American group that separated from the greater body of the Cherokee during the American Revolutionary War and up to the early 1800s.

The Jacob Brown Grant Deeds, also known more simply as the Nolichucky Grants, were transactions for the sale of land by the Cherokee Nation to Jacob Brown. The transaction occurred at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River on March 25, 1775. The Jacob Brown grants were for two large tracts along the Nolichucky River some of which had been previously leased from the Cherokee.

The Treaty of Indian Springs, also known as the First Treaty of Indian Springs and the Treaty with the Creeks, is a treaty concluded between the Muscogee and the United States on January 8, 1821 at what is now Indian Springs State Park.

The Treaty of Dewitts Corner ended the initial Overhill Cherokee targeted attacks on colonial settlements that took place at the beginning of the American Revolution. A peace document signed by the Cherokee and South Carolina, the treaty instead laid the foundation for the decades long Cherokee–American wars fought between the European-Americans and the Chickamauga Cherokee people.

References

  1. Ethnic Groups of the Americas: An Encyclopedia; Minahan, James B.; 2013; p.86
  2. Envisaging the West: Thomas Jefferson and the Rooths of Lewis and Clark. TREATY OF HARD LABOR WITH CHEROKEES. University of Nebraska - Lincoln; University of Virginia.
  3. "Treaty of Augusta". 001-01-025, Indian Claims (Treaties and Spoliations), Governor, RG 1-1-25, Georgia Archives. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  4. Treaty with the Cherokee 1819 Archived 2015-11-04 at the Wayback Machine , Retrieved 22 October 2015
  5. Seibert, David. "Council Bluffs Treaty". GeorgiaInfo: an Online Georgia Almanac. Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  6. Seibert, David. "Cherokee Treaty". GeorgiaInfo: an Online Georgia Almanac. Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  7. Brewer, Graham Lee; Ahtone, Tristan (27 October 2021). "In Texas, a group claiming to be Cherokee faces questions about authenticity". NBC News. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  8. "Treaty with the Cherokee, 1866." Archived June 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Oklahoma Historical Society: Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Vol. 2, Treaties. (retrieved 10 Jan 2010)