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tStaEkOlOEE PHCBNIX, M» Ilf MAKS’. ABV ©€ AT E
HR THE PATRON AGE, AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF TUB CHEROKEE NATION, AND DEVOTED TO TI1E CAUSE OF INDIANS.—13. IJCLWINCTT, I DITOIi.
tjaia. III.
KEW SOHOTA, SATURDAY MAY 8, 1830.
NO.
0te ,4W^<Tiw % .iSMJOr gv ^tfwwr nrr^mcm
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AGENTS roll THE CHEROKEE,
rilCENIX.
The lull owing persons arc authorized to
receive subscriptions and payments tor the
Cherokee IMiu'iiix.
Messrs. Peirce & Wit.i.tams, No. 20
Market St. Boston, Was..
;; riJ M, 'i'u act, Age it o! the A. b.
C. K. M. N w York.
ltev. A. D. Eddy, Canandaigua, N. Y.
Thomas Hastings, Utica, N. Y.
I* h.laud is. Converse, Richmond, Va.
Jiv.s Ca'mctiet.d, Braufart, S. C.
Vv’iDLiam AiauLTiiiE Reid, Charleston,
^ (lot. Ggouge Smith, Statesville, ’A . T.
.IsilE 'llAII Vo-ITII., M »U el.
lli v. Cvitus K.INGS11UHY, Mavhew, Choc-
'taw Nation. , ,
1. Wiu.d:.( RiBehtson, Augusta,
.Georgia. ,
Col. James Turk, Bcilofor.tc, Ala.
I.T3IA
Ntr.v Lett itt. Cutn Nation, )
March io, 1 Td-J. j!
Mr. Wm. S. Coo a uv,
Waihinglcn City.
Dtar S;: — I cheerfully comply
with your request, that I would for
ward to you u statement respecting
thc progress of improvement among
your people, the Chcrokees. Whatever
might be said of the propriety or im
propriety of Missionaries’ discussing
the question of the removal of the In
dians, it can hardly be doubled that it
is proper for any one to give a stale-
v ment of what passes under his obser
vation, in regard to the present condi
tion of thc tribes interested in that
question. I shall not say any thing in
this communication, which 1 shall be
'unwilling to have come before the
j>ublifi, accompanied with my proper
signature, if occasion require.
Whatever deficiencies there may
be in my statements, I shall use my
utmost endeavour that nothing color
ed nothing which will not bear the
strictest scrutiny, may find a place.
It may not be amiss to state, brj.sf-
Jy, what opportunities I have enjoyed
of forming n judgment respecting the
stale of the Cherokee people. It
;vas four years last October, since I
jfiame into thc nation, during which
time I have made it my home, bavin,
resided two years at Brainerd, and
the remainder of tins time at tips
place. Though I have not spent
very much of the time in travelling,
yet I have visited almost every part
of the nation except a section on the
Northeast. Two annual sessions of
the General • Council have passed
while 1 have been residing at the
&oat of Government, at which times
a great number of the people of all
glasses and from all part? (ire to be
Wen,'
The statistical information which It «3 the dependence of almost every .wish to remain. H ' 9 ‘ 10t 1 m
has been published respecting this J family. As to the wandering part o‘| for a person to dwell a, j ,on » .
nation 1 hope you have on hand, or the people, who live by the chase, it j without.hear mg much on
will receive from some oilier source; they are to he found in the nation, I
goes far towards giving a correct certainly have not found them, nor
it view of the state of the people. I even heard ol them, except from the
have only to say, that, judging from door of Congress, and other distant
what I see around me, 1 believe that j sources of information. I do not
a similar enumeration made the pres- j know ot a single family who depend
ompar-
cc the
ent year would show, by the
isoq, a rapid improvement si
census was taken.
The printed constitution and laws
in any considerable degree, on game
for support. Jl is true that deer
and turkics are frequently killed, but
not in sufficient numbers to form any
of your nation, also, you doubtless | dependence ns the means of subsist
have. They show your progress in
civil polity. As far as my knowledge
extends, lhey are, executed with a
good degree of efficiency, and their
execution meets with not the least
v. fi'om any tiling like a spirit
Oaths are consi.inr.yr the people.
1:1 the courts of justice, and l believt
I have never heard of an instance of
perjury.
It has been well observed by oth
ers, that the progress of a people in
civilization is to bo determined by
'comparing the present with the past.
I can only compare what 1 see with
what I am told lias been.
The principal chief is about
tears of age. When he was a
bis father procured him a gooi
of clothes, in the fashion of the
forty
boy.
I suit
sons
of civilized people; but be was so 1 id- j a few are furnish- d
iculed by his mates as a while boy, I and many decent I)
that he took olT his new suit, and re-jliw
fused to Wear it. The editor of the j
Cherokee Phoenix is twenty-seven
years old. He well remembers that !
he flit awkward and ashamed of bis.
singularity, when be began to wear j
• lie dress ol'o white boy. .Vou> eve
ry hoy is pi on;i of a civilized suit,
and those fepl awkward and pthsmod
of their singularity who ore destitute
of it. At fho lasl session of the Gen
eral Courr ii. J scarcely recollect hav
ing seen any members who won
clothed in the same manner as the
white inhabitants of 1 he neighboring
S'ates; and thc.«o very few, (I am in
formed (hot the precise number was
four) who were partially clothed in
Indian style, were, nevertheless, very
decently attired. The dress of civ
ilized people is general throughout
the nation. I have seen, I believe,
only 011c Cherokee woman, and she
an aged woman, away from her home,
"ho was not clothed in at least a de
cent long gown. At home only one.
a very aged woman, who appeared
willing to he seen in original native
dross; three or four, only, who had
at their own houses dressed them
selves in Indian style, hut hid them
selves with sham- at the approach of
a stranger I am thus particular,
because particularity gives imre ac
curate ideas (bail general statements.
Among the elderly men there is yet
a considerable portion. I dare not say
whether a majority or a minrily,
who retain the Indian dress in part
The younger men almost all dress like
the whiles around them, except that
tho greater number vvenr a turban
instead of a hat, and in cold weather
a blanket frequently serves for n
cloak. Cloaks, however, are becom
ing common. There yet remains
room for improvement in dress, hut
thal improvement is making with sur
prising rapidity.
The arts of spinning and weaving,
the Cherokee worqen, generally, put
in practice. Most of their garments
are of their own spinning and weaving,
from cotton, the produce of their own
fields; though considerable northern
domestic, and much caiico, is worn,
nor is silk uncommon. Numbers of
the men wear imported cloths, broad
cloths, &e. ami many wear mixed cot
ton and wool, the manufacture of
their wives; but the greater part are
clothed principally in cotton.
Except in the arts of spinning mid
weaving, hut lit-tlc progress has been
made in manufactures. A few Clier-
okecs, however, are mechanics.
Agriculture is the principal em
ployment and support of the people.
Tho land is cultivated with
very different degrees ol industry,*
hut I believe that few fail of an ade
quate supply of food. The ground is
uniformly cultivated by means of the
plough, and net, as formerly, by thc
hoe only.
Thc houses of the Chcrokees are
or brick mtfrcsvM.gn elegant painted
mean log cabin. If we speak, tior.v
ever, of the mass of the people, they
live in comfortable log houses, gener
ally one story high, hut frequently
1 two; sometimes of hen r. logs, and
I sometimes unhewn; commonly with a
[wooden chimney, and a floor ol pun-
! e.heons, or what * m*' England man
| would call slabs. Their houses arc
j not generally well furnished, many
j have scarcely any furniture, 1110:54. Ii
even elegantly.
Improvement 111
I have heard much. It is said abroad,
that thc common people would gladly
1 oftiove, bill are deterred by the
(. hiefs, and a few other influential men.
It is not so. I say, with the ulniost
assurance, it is not so. Nothing is
plainer, than that it is the earnest
wish of the whole body ol the people
to. remain wlieie they are. I he)
are not overawed by the < hiefs. ln-
dividunls may ! e overawed by popu
lar opinion, hut not by the chief*. On
the other hand, it there were a elect
in favor of removal, hr. would lie over-
aired by the people. He would know
that lie Could not open his mouth in
favor of stub a proposition, hut on
pain, not only of the failure ol his re-
election, hut of popular odium and
scorn. Tho whole tide of national
feeling sets, in one strong and 111s-
the \Vrsf. , ' , ent, aguii.st a icnioval to
\ onr sincere friend.
SAME EE A. WOTK.ESTER.
Hightower, thence down sa.d m • r
I to the mouth of Will's Creek. 11 is
' generally reported in the neigbhorjj
hood of bawanali old town, anti m the
Buzzard roost, that the line run njj
■ the two tribes in 1821, was ift c m
, sequence of an arrangement or a-
greement between them, to which-tlie*
Government of the United States wys
not a party. The agreement there*
, lore by which this line was establish*
led according to its Conililuliou and
its Laws is not binding upon the Uni*
1 ted States. Arid by tlie treaty of
1827, the Creeks having eeded all
the land in their oveupaney* nithift
| the rliai tered limits of Georgia, ti*
| the United States for the use ol Geoi ,J
Igia, it follows undeniably that 1 he
land south ol the line running from
Sawau.ah old town cri the Cliattalmo-
: chy river, thence clown said river to
the Alabama line, and now in the pos
session Gf the Chcrokees, is the. legal
right of Georg in.
S. A. WALES.
1 T ' : ~ Uv, John Forsyth.
of Georgia.
Pula in
Viol
aJ! 1 hr
DOrU-M ENTS
to the l oifndttrji line l >
Chcrokees cr. J Creche.
m: in our possession, w
"•tin onies which Gencr
on his law visit (a th’>
L-liovo
! Cofi’pe
nation.
furniture of their
to follow alter imnrovi
os appears
ai u dreSs.
apid prog-
10J
>\ Stflli
hut at present is making
ress
As to education, the number Who
'■an read and write English is consid
erable though it heats but a moder
ate p; open ion to the whole popula
tion. Among such, the ilegiee of im
provement and intelligence is various.
The Cherokee I 'nguage, ns far as I
can judge, is rend and written by a
not ! large majority of those between child
hood and middle; age. Only a few
who are much beyond middle age
have learned.
in regard to the progress of reli
gion, i cannot I suppose, do better
than to stale -s nearly as I am aide,
the number of members in the
churches of the several denominations.
Thc whole number of native members
of the Presbyterian churches is not
far from 18T In the churehes of
the United Brethren are about 6-1.
In tiie Baptist churches I do not
1-now the number; probably as many
39 50. Tiie Methodists, I believe,
reckon in society, more than 800*
of whom I suppose the greater purl
arc natives. Many of the heathenish
customs of the people have gone en
tirely, or almost entirely, into disuse,
and others are fast following their
steps. I believe the greater part of
the people acknowledge (lie 'Chris
tian religion to ho the true religion,
although many who make this ac
knowledgment know very little of
that religion, and many others do not
feel its poivcr. Through the Messing
of our God, however, religion is stead
ily. gaining ground.
, i>> If ' li hi in their occupancy. Th>>
aokncoyiriigpiiif-nt of Co!. {4. A W alesv
amliorizc.l coii.mi-sicncr of Georgia, is
mil ul :mpf-r(, mui places in its <rne doTtl
H.o r.aiuiT of (lie r:a : m contended Jcr-'.by
lorn anil by tiie Stat^, Georgia r,
1 hi in-the land by vii j 11c of t!VF trea 1 , of!
iH-7. m v.hh l, Beaty, Col. \V a | PS ga y 9
'• •' Crooks ‘honed a!! the land in iGT or*
and on winch Inn I resident lias inane : rvpancy uJh'n ihr chattered limit s’* of
the State. yVo grant it. But docs it ur*
t.r-!i:i’b*y ft Eov.-that the land <opth ct SSt
wai.ali o!<i tow n and the Hightotv r nv, r,
y. :i- j urcliasei' of tho Gret-hs Ynd is there-'
mio, the 1 iflitbd property of Gecrpia?
no irioans, \\ h> } B'cause th s ver*
ir.c land mV in disj ute tent not at the
. ... , , In.-i'- cf the tiratyj r.nd for aught any tr.an>
_ s (in(l ( am-nCCt. jm'Htrhcil | ra:i \ reve, hat never been, in the occvpcn-.
by the Governor oj ii( 1 p 111 to Gen- ft t-, ih-* Giro! s. j },o reasoning ol 1 o4^|
erul Coljee. , NV h- a remarkable instance oi faise
non. 1 visions ljoin collect profr.ire"
MiLT.rDur.viLT r., ; Editor Cher. PA,
28 January, 18^9, $
rr.at mg to the unfounded claim of (jror-
g i, :\r.d on winch l
a strange decision. These documents wr
shall Icty liefpre rur readers. \Ve sl.nl 1
begin with the statements roadc cn the
part of Geogia.
i'jjcceulirc co< reyonorree cud deemnents
relative to the bcv.ndaa; tint'-, Irluun
the (heel.sand Chau
Sir—I herew ith communii
;:te
Geoeoia, Gwjnnftt County. ,
thc testimony I have been atile to col-1 , J' ' ,lf * Gill ci t brine; swoin suit';,
lent it; relation to the boundary line ! J " 1 ,'" s , ," ( ( *'* * lC ’’Ff’ 01 ’ r ;! 11 of
between the Creeks and Chctokces an . n ‘ ! olt> town, an the Chnttahoo-
as understood by these tribes piior tot* '• in<l s,iu e the
to the year 182T. By ti.c treaty of
year
at
1810.
that tune he understood tho diyidi. ..
line between (he Cherokee and Creek,
tribes of Indians was a trail called
the Hightower path, crossing the riv
er at Saw anali old town, and running
on to the Hightower river—and that,
nndersleod by all to he
ivided the tW'O bribes,.
Cliatlnhoochy, and s: me distance from I U,!S pnoluer line nk
the river. By the treaty of IBH, i ™ mrm ' 1K ^'*. n S ns 1 ,l ' s '^ponent is infm-m-
the Chcrokees ceded land on'the' C( nl {1 I 101111 ,. 011 ,,ir C-haliahoor-liy riv-
east side of the Cihnttal.oochy, north j ‘V’’ 60,110 In ' lmv
of this line, and by the treaty of 1818,' , ,iZ7ru,<1
the Creeks ceded lands on the enst I ll,s '‘‘T'O^ont urilKw saitb.. t!mt he
has understood from (he Chcrokees
1818 \vith the Creeks, the President
was authorized to have a line inn (0
designate the boundary, of land ceded
by said treaty. And the' Honorable
Wilson Lumpkin, who yvas appointed 'll 1 . lu ' U! . ! " n T n
for that purpose, run a line from a j ‘' 1 s1,1 , uns .!
Locust True on the west side of thc f 1 "*,*. lhnt M
side of the Chaltahoodiy south cf it.
The conclusion therefore is a •-ntionni
one, apart from any testimony on the
subject, that the dividing line be
tween the two tribes crossed the
Clialtahooehy river at Sawnnah old
tow n. The ivestern point of boutidu-
ry between 1 lie two tribes as proved
by treaties, and admitted by both
tribes, is the mouth of
that the point where the Hightower
path crossed (lie Chattnlroocliy liver
at S-.wnnah old town was also' called-
the Buzzard Roost before the line*
was made.*
JAMES GILBERT.
GE0RCJ1A, GWINNEfT CoUNTV.
Rubi-rt \ enable being syvorn snithl'.'
. .. .:—-i ,,'p lron|i p r of J
that he has lived
Will's Creel
on Coosa river. The line of division ! “F Georgia for 28 years, and (hat he
then between the tw o tribes, subse- j has frequently Irecn in the Cheivkec
quent to the treaties of 1817 w ith j Nation and understood from (fie yvhilcs
But, it wif] he asked, is the im-1 the Chcrokees, ami of IBIS w ith the | "'ho had matried in the Cherokee
provement which lias been drseribed. [Creeks, & prior to the year 1821 was ! Nation, that the old end original Jin^
general among the people, ami are
the full-blooded Indians civilized, or
only tile half-breeds? I answer that,
in the description which I have given,
I have spoken of the mass of the peo
ple, without distinction. If it he ask
ed however, what class are most ad
vanced—I answer, ns a genera! thing
—those of mixed blood. They have
taken the lead, although some of full
blood are as refined ns any. But,
though those of mixed blood are gen
erally in tile van, as might naturally
he expected, yet Hie whole mass of
the people is on the march.
There is one other subject, on
yvlifeli I think it due to justice to give
my testimony, whatever it may he
worth. * Whether the Clickhkecs are
wise in desiring to remain here, or
not, 1 express no opinion.. But it is
certainly just, that if should he kqov n
whether yr not they do, ns a body,
a line the eastern end Y which was j between (he (beck and Cherokee*-
Sawannli old town, on the Chattohoo-j Mibi's of Indians was a line crossing
chy river. By the testimony of j the Chaltahoodiy river at SnwmiKT>*
Janves Gilbet, Robert Venable. Isbam [old town, and running did striking
Williams, and Elisha Winns, it up- Hightower in the 'neighborhood of
pears that the line from Siiwenah old
town run on (0 the Hightower river
in the neighborhood of the . Six’s old
town.— And by (lie testi.inony of Ma
jor Brooks, from thence down the
river to the mouth of Wills Cnek —
'The testimony of Major Montgomery,
George M. Grisham, and also that ol
Major Brooks, proves that the land
on the south side of this line, and on
the north sid« of (lie liints. run by (lie
two tribes in 1821, was Creek land—
(lie conclusion then is irresistible, that
the dividing line between the two
tlibes prior to the year 1821, was
a line commencing at Saw anali old
town on the Chattahoochy river, and
running'll Hie Six’s old tow n, on the
thc Six's old (own
Robert tenable.
Gr.onr.iA, Guinnett Copntv.
Elisha Winn being sworn, deposetfi
niui snilh, that l:e was living on the
frontier in Jackson County at the
time of tho treaty of ISIS, with iW*
Creek Indians, and at the time of the
treaty ol 1817, with the Cherokee
Indians; at the time of said t+eafiee
ihc dividing line between (he two
Iribts. Was wha.t w as called (lie High
tower path, running from the pj.h
Shoals on the Apalachee river
to Snivanah old town, on the Chslta*
boor by river. & from thenee to Six’#
old town on the Hightmve.- r| V4 , r
this deponent further aaitb thal /ol#