The Cherokee Nation of Indians. (1887 N 05 / 1883-1884 (pages 121-378))

The entire tract, including the Pawnee reserve, contains 6,574,576.05 acres, and was appraised at an average valuation of 41¹/₄ cents per acre. The average valuation placed upon the Pawnee reserve separately was 59 cents per acre, leaving the average of the remaining 6,344,562.01 acres 40.47 cents per acre.

To this standard of appraisal the Cherokees strenuously objected as being most unfair and unjust to them, claiming that the same measure of value used by the United States in rating its lands of a similar character in the adjoining State of Kansas, and from which they were separated only by an imaginary line, should prevail in determining the price to be paid for the Cherokee lands.

The Secretary of the Interior, after a careful examination of the whole subject, was of the opinion657 that the restriction placed upon the use of these lands (being limited to Indian occupancy only) did not warrant a reduction of 50 per cent. in an appraisal of their value.

The price paid by the Osages for their reserve was 70 cents per acre. The Pawnee tract was of about the same general character as that of the Osages, and there seemed to be no good reason why the same price should not be allowed to the Cherokees therefor. This Pawnee tract was appraised by the commissioners at 59 cents per acre. As the appraisal of the whole unoccupied country west of 96° was made by the same appraisers and upon the same basis, if an increase was determined upon in the case of the Pawnee tract from 59 to 70 cents per acre, it was only just that a proportionate increase above the appraised value of the remainder of the lands should also be allowed. This would give an increase for the latter from 40.47 cents to 47.49 per acre. The adoption of this standard was therefore recommended to the President and was by him approved and ratified.658

In addition to the Osages, Kansas, and Pawnees there have been removed to the Cherokee lands west of 96° the Poncas, a portion of the Nez Percés, and the Otoes and Missourias.

Poncas.—An appropriation of $25,000 was made by act of Congress approved August 15, 1876,659 for the removal of the Poncas, whenever their assent should be obtained. After much trouble and a threatened resort to military force, their assent to remove to the Indian Territory was secured in the beginning of 1877.660 They came overland from Nebraska in two different parties and encountered great hardships, but finally reached the Territory, where they were temporarily located on the northeast portion of the Quapaw reserve, a few miles from Baxter Springs, Kansas.661

They were not satisfied with the location, which was in many respects unsuitable, especially in view of its proximity to the white settlements. They were, therefore, permitted to make another selection, which they did in the Cherokee country, on the west bank of the Arkansas, including both banks of the Salt Fork at its junction with the parent stream. To this new home they removed in 1878,662 but it was not until 1881663 that Congress made an appropriation out of which to pay the Cherokees for the land so occupied. This tract embraces 101,894.31 acres, for which the price of 47.49 cents per acre, fixed by the President, was paid.

Nez Percés.—The Nez Percés, previously alluded to, are the remnant of Chief Joseph's band, who surrendered to General Miles in 1877. They were at first removed from the place of their surrender to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where they arrived in November of that year as prisoners of war, to the number of 431. Congress having made provision664 for their settlement in the Indian Territory, a reservation was selected for them on both sides of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas. To this tract, which adjoined the Poncas on the west, they removed in the summer of 1879,665 having in the mean time lost a large number by death, the mortality being occasioned in great measure by their unsanitary location while at Fort Leavenworth. The reserve selected for them contains 90,735 acres and was paid for at the same price as that of the Poncas.

Otoes and Missourias.—By act of March 3, 1881,663 provision was also made for the removal of the Otoes and Missourias to the Indian Territory and for the sale of their lands in Nebraska.

A reservation was accordingly selected for them, west of the Arkansas River and south of the Ponca Reserve, to which they were removed in the autumn of the same year666. It contains 129,113.20 acres and was paid for at the same rate as that of the Poncas and Nez Percés.667

EAST AND NORTH BOUNDARIES OF CHEROKEE COUNTRY.

For many years there had been much doubt and dispute concerning the correctness of the boundary line between the Cherokee Nation and the adjacent States. Especially had this been the cause of much controversy with the citizens of Arkansas. In the interest of a final adjustment of the matter, it was stipulated in the twenty-first article of the Cherokee treaty of July 19, 1866, that the United States should, at its own expense, cause such boundary to be resurveyed between the Cherokee Nation and the States of Arkansas, Missouri, and of Kansas as far west as the Arkansas River, and the same should be marked by permanent and conspicuous monuments by two commissioners, one of whom should be designated by the Cherokee national council.

Nothing definite was done in pursuance of this provision until the year 1871, when W. D. Gallagher was668 appointed a commissioner on behalf of the United States to co-operate with the commissioner on the part of the Cherokees. Mr. Gallagher declined and R. G. Corwin was substituted in his stead669, but he having also refused to serve, the place was finally filled by the appointment670 of James M. Ashley. The Cherokee national council on their part selected John Lynch Adair. The commission advertised for proposals for the surveying, and, as a result, entered into contract with D. P. Mitchell, who completed the survey to the satisfaction of the commissioners.671 The new line from Fort Smith, Ark., to the southwest corner of Missouri ran north 7° 50' west, 77 miles 39.08 chains; thence to the southeast corner of the Seneca lands it ran north 0° 02' west, 8 miles 53.68 chains. The north boundary between the nation and the State of Kansas, extending from the Neosho to the Arkansas River, was protracted due west on the 37° of north latitude and was found to be 105 miles 60 chains and 75 links in length. The report of the commissioners was approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and although some distress for the time being was occasioned to individual settlers, whose improvements were by the resurvey of the line thrown within the limits of the Indian Territory, the boundary has been so plainly marked that "he who runs may read."

RAILROADS THROUGH INDIAN TERRITORY.

The series of treaties concluded in 1866 with the five principal tribes in Indian Territory all contained limited concessions of right of way for railroads through their country to the State of Texas. The eleventh article of the Cherokee treaty contained a grant of right of way 200 feet in width to a contemplated railroad through their domain from north to south and also from east to west. In pursuance of these treaty concessions, as essentially a part of the same scheme, Congress, by appropriate legislation,672 granted public lands and privileges to the Kansas and Neosho, the southern branch of the Union Pacific, and the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Companies, respectively, for the construction of their roads. The Leavenworth, Lawrence and Fort Gibson Railroad was also conceded like privileges. The stipulated point of entering the Indian Territory was in each case the west bank of Neosho River, where it crosses the Kansas line. As there seemed to be some question whether more than one line of road would be permitted to traverse the Territory in each direction a race was inaugurated between all the north and south lines, each in the effort to outstrip the other in reaching the prescribed point for entering the Indian country. The Union Pacific Southern Branch (subsequently known as the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas) Railway Company, in the fervency of their desire to reach the line first, omitted the construction of a portion of their route, and began operations within the limits of the Cherokee country without having received the previous permission of either the United States or the Cherokee authorities so to do. To this conduct the Cherokees made vigorous objection, and appealed to the Secretary of the Interior. That officer notified673 the railroad officials that the Cherokees did not recognize their right to so intrude upon the Territory, and that no work of the kind referred to could be permitted therein until the Executive should be satisfied, by evidence submitted in proper manner, that such entry and occupation were in accordance with law. Thereupon the officers and attorneys of the several companies interested appeared and submitted arguments before the Secretary of the Interior on behalf of their respective interests. The point submitted for the consideration of the Secretary and for the determination of the President was, what rights had been given to railroad companies to construct railroads through the Indian Territory and what railroads, if any, were entitled to such privileges and right of way.

On the part of the Indians it was claimed that the whole scheme of treaties and of legislation looked to the construction of but a single trunk road through the Territory from north to south, and, as far as the Cherokee Nation was concerned, for the like construction of but a single road through its territory from east to west. This interpretation of the treaties and the laws was admitted to be the correct one by all the companies but the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas. This company insisted that the meaning of the legislation and of the treaties was to give the right of way to as many roads as might in any manner be authorized by Congress to enter the Territory.

The Secretary of the Interior in his opinion674 expressed an emphatic concurrence in the interpretation insisted upon by the Cherokee delegation. He was further of the opinion that neither of the roads had so far earned a right to enter the Indian country by the construction of a continuous line of road to the legal point of entrance, but that as it might soon be necessary to decide which company should first completely fulfill the conditions of the law, an executive order ought to be issued declaring that no railroad company should be permitted to enter the Territory for the purpose of grading or constructing a railroad until a report should be received from a commission composed of the superintendents of Indian affairs for the central and southern superintendencies designating which company had first reached the line. These views and findings of the Secretary of the Interior were approved by the President and directed to be carried into effect.675

This commission reported676 that the Union Pacific Railway, southern branch—otherwise the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway—reached the northern boundary of the Indian Territory, in the valley of the Neosho River on the west side, and about one mile therefrom, at noon on the 6th day of June, 1870, and that at that time there was no other railroad nearer than 16 miles of that point.

Predicated upon this report, supplemented by the certificate of the governor of Kansas that it was a first class completed railway up to that point, permission was given the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway Company by the President, under certain stipulations and restrictions as to the methods and character of construction, to proceed with the work of building a trunk road through the Indian Territory to a point at or near Preston, in the State of Texas, and the road was rapidly constructed under this authority.

The Atlantic and Pacific road, having no competitor, experienced no difficulty in securing the right of construction of its east and west line through the Cherokee country.

REMOVAL OF INTRUDERS—CHEROKEE CITIZENSHIP.

On various pretexts, both white and colored men had from time to time established themselves among the Cherokees and taken up their residence as permanent citizens of the nation. The increase of their numbers at length became so formidable and their influence upon the national polity and legislation of the Cherokees so great as to excite the apprehension and jealousy of the latter.

The policy of their removal therefore became a subject of serious consideration with the national council. This involved a question as to what were the essential prerequisites of Cherokee citizenship, and who of the objectionable class were entitled, on any score, to the privileges of such citizenship, as well as who were mere naked intruders. Upon these points the national council assumed to exercise absolute control, and proceeded to enact laws for the removal of all persons, both white and colored, whom the council should declare not entitled to remain in the Cherokee country.677 The action of the council in this respect was communicated to the Indian Department in the fall of 1874, through the United States agent for that tribe, coupled with a demand for the removal by the military force of the United States of all who had thus been declared to be intruders. The Department not being fully satisfied of the justice of this demand, detailed an inspector to proceed to the Indian country and make a thorough investigation of the subject. His report678 revealed the fact that there were large numbers of people in that country who had been declared intruders by the national authorities, but who had presented to him strong ex parte evidence of their right to Cherokee citizenship, either by blood, by adoption, or under the terms of the 9th article of the treaty of 1866 defining the status of colored people. Affidavits in large numbers corroborative of the inspector's report continued to be filed in the Indian Department during the succeeding summer, from which it appeared that many persons belonging to each of the classes alluded to had applied to the courts or to the council of the nation for an affirmative ruling upon their claim to citizenship, but that in many instances such applications had been entirely ignored. In other cases, where the courts had actually affirmed the right of applicants, the council had arbitrarily and without notice placed their names upon the list of intruders and called upon the United States for their removal. In this situation of affairs the Indian Department advised679 the principal chief of the Cherokees that the Department would neither remove these alleged intruders nor permit their removal until the Cherokee council had devised a system of rules by which authority should be vested in the Cherokee courts to hear and determine all cases involving the citizenship of any person. These rules should be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to whom an appeal should also lie from any adverse decision of those courts. As there were a number of these intruders, however, who made no claim to the right of Cherokee citizenship, it was directed by the Interior Department, in the spring of 1877, that all who should not present prima facie evidence of such right should be summarily removed from the Territory. The main cause of difficulty, however, continuing unadjusted, the principal chief of the Cherokees asked the submission of the subject, from the Cherokee standpoint, to the Attorney-General of the United States for his opinion. This was done in the spring of 1879,680 by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs through the Secretary of the Interior, wherein the former, alleging that the question submitted by the Cherokee authorities did not fully meet the subject in dispute, and being desirous that a complete statement of the case should be presented to the Attorney-General, suggested three additional inquiries for the consideration of that officer. These inquiries were, first, Have the Cherokee national authorities such original right of sovereignty over their country and their people as to vest in them the exclusive jurisdiction of all questions of citizenship in that nation without reference to the paramount authority of the United States? Second, If not, do they derive any such power or right by the provisions of any of the treaties between the United States and the Cherokees? Third, Can they exclude from citizenship any of the Cherokees who did not remove under the provisions of the treaty of 1835 upon their removal to the Cherokee country as now defined by law? The reply681 of the Attorney-General was to the effect that it seemed quite plain in executing such treaties as those with the Cherokees, the United States were not bound to regard simply the Cherokee law and its construction by the council of that nation, but that any Department required to remove alleged intruders must determine for itself, under the general law of the land, the existence and extent of the exigency upon which such requisition was founded.

One class of these so-called intruders, as previously suggested, was composed of colored people who resided in the Cherokee country prior to the war, either as slaves or freemen, and their descendants.

The fourth article of the treaty of July 19, 1866, contained a provision setting apart a tract within the Cherokee country known as the Canadian district, for the settlement and occupancy of "all the Cherokees and freed persons who were formerly slaves of any Cherokee, and all free negroes not having been such slaves who resided in the Cherokee Nation prior to June 1, 1861, who may within two years elect not to reside northeast of the Arkansas River and southeast of Grand River."

The fifth article of the same treaty guaranteed to such persons as should determine to reside in the district thus set apart the right to select their own local officers, judges, etc., and to manage and control their local affairs in such manner as seemed most satisfactory to them not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the Cherokee Nation or of the United States. Again it was provided by the ninth article of the treaty that all freedmen who had been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners or by law, as well as all free colored persons who were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion and were still residents therein or who should return within six months and their descendants, should have all the rights of native Cherokees.

Congressional legislation was sought in 1879, having in view the enforcement of this ninth article, but it failed of consummation.682 The Cherokee council, in the mean time had passed683 an act urging upon the United States the adoption of some measures calculated to reach a satisfactory adjustment of the status of the colored people within their jurisdiction, and requested the attendance of some properly authorized representative of the Government at their ensuing council for consultation as to the most satisfactory method of settling the vexed question. United States Indian Agent Tufts was accordingly instructed684 to attend the council, which he did. It resulted in the passage685 of an act by that body authorizing the principal chief to appoint a commission of three Cherokees to confer with the United States agent and draft articles of agreement, which should, after receiving the approval of the council and of Congress, be considered as permanently fixing the status of the colored people. The agent, however, soon discovered that no action looking to the full recognition of the rights to which they were entitled was likely to receive favorable consideration. It seems from his report686 that it was still very unpopular in the Cherokee Nation to advocate any measure conceding to the colored people the same rights enjoyed by the Cherokees themselves, and that until a radical revolution of public sentiment should take place among them it was useless to expect any favorable action from the national council. Agent Tufts concluded his report with a recommendation that a commission be appointed By the Interior Department and instructed to hold sessions in the Cherokee country, hear evidence, and determine the status of each disputed claimant to citizenship, subject to the final revision and approval of the Department. Inspector Ward and Special Agent Beede were, therefore, instructed687 to consult with Agent Tufts, and, after familiarizing themselves with the question in all its details, to visit the executive officers of the Cherokee Nation and see if some satisfactory solution of the troublesome problem could be brought about. This conference, like all previous efforts, failed of accomplishing the desired end. Thus the question still stands, and all those persons who have been able to make out a prima facie showing of Cherokee citizenship, under the ruling of the Department, are allowed to remain in the Territory unmolested.

GENERAL REMARKS.

With the exception of these questions and complications arising out of the construction of the various articles of the treaty of July 19, 1866, nothing of an important character has occurred in connection with the official relations between the Cherokee Nation and the Federal Government since the date of that treaty.

Their history has been an eventful one. For two hundred years a contest involving their very existence as a people has been maintained against the unscrupulous rapacity of Anglo-Saxon civilization. By degrees they were driven from their ancestral domain to an unknown and inhospitable region. The country of their fathers was peculiarly dear to them. It embraced the head springs of many of the most important streams of the country. From the summit of their own Blue Ridge they could watch the tiny rivulets on either side of them dashing and bounding over their rocky beds in their eagerness to join and swell the ever increasing volume of waters rolling toward the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico: the Tennessee and the Cumberland, the Kanawha and the Kentucky, the Peedee and the Santee, the Savannah and the Altamaha, the Chattahoochee and the Alabama, all found their beginnings within the Cherokee domain. The bracing and invigorating atmosphere of their mountains was wafted to the valleys and low lands of their more distant borders, tempering the heat and destroying the malaria. Much of their country was a succession of grand mountains, clothed with dense forests; of beautiful but narrow valleys, and extensive well watered plains. Every nook and corner of this vast territory was endeared to them by some incident of hunter, warrior, or domestic life. Over these hills and through the recesses of the dark forests the Cherokee hunter had from time immemorial pursued the deer, elk, and buffalo. Through and over them he had passed on his long and vengeful journeys against the hated Iroquois and Shawnee.

The blood of his ancestors, as well as of his enemies, could be trailed from the Hiwassee to the Ohio. The trophies of his skill and valor adorned the sides of his wigwam and furnished the theme for his boastful oratory and song around the council fire and at the dance. His wants were few and purely of a physical nature. His life was devoted to the work of securing a sufficiency of food and the punishment of his enemies. His reputation among his fellow men was proportioned to the skill with which he could draw the bow, his cleverness and agility in their simple athletic sports, or the keen and tireless manner that characterized his pursuit of an enemy's trail. His life was simple, his wants were easily supplied; and, in consequence, the largest measure of his existence was spent in indolence and frivolous amusements. Such proportion of the family food as the chase did not supply was found in the cultivation of Indian corn. The pride of a warrior scorned the performance of menial labor, and to the squaw was this drudgery, as well as that of the household, assigned. His general character has been much misunderstood and misrepresented. He was in fact possessed of great ingenuity, keen wit, and rare cunning. In the consideration of matters of public importance, his conduct was characterized by a grave dignity that was frequently almost ludicrous. The studied stolidity of his countenance gave the spectator no clew to the inward bent of his feelings or determination. The anxious prisoner, from a watchful study of his face and actions, could read nothing of his probable fate. He was physically brave, and would without hesitancy attack the most dangerous beasts of the forests or his still more ferocious human enemies. In the hands of those enemies he would endure, with the most unflinching nerve, the cruelest tortures their ingenuity could devise, and at the same time chant his death song in the recital of his numerous personal acts of triumph over them.

His methods of warfare were, however, very different from those which meet the approval of civilized nations. He could not understand that there was anything of merit in meeting his antagonist in the open field, where the chances of victory were nearly equal. It was a useless risk of his life, even though his numbers exceeded those of his enemy, to allow them to become advised of his approach. His movements were stealthy, and his blows fell at an unexpected moment from the hidden ambush or in the dead hours of the night. His nature was cruel, and in the excitement of battle that cruelty was clothed in the most terrible forms. He was in the highest degree vindictive, and his memory never lost sight of a personal injury. He was inclined to be credulous until once deceived, after which nothing could remove his jealous distrust.

His confidence once fully secured, however, the unselfishness of his friendship as a rule would put to shame that of his more civilized Anglo-Saxon brother. His scrupulous honor in the payment of a just debt was of a character not always emulated among commercial nations. His noble qualities have not been granted the general recognition they deserve, and his ignoble traits have oftentimes been glossed over with the varnish of an unhealthy sentimentality.688

For many years following his first contact with the whites the daily life of the Cherokee underwent but little change. The remoteness of his villages from the coast settlements and the intervening territory of other tribes limited in large degree any frequency of association with his white neighbors. In spite of this restricted intercourse, however, the superior comforts and luxuries of civilization were early apparent to him. His new-found desires met with a ready supply through the enterprising cupidity of the fur traders. At the same time and through the same means he was brought to a knowledge of the uses and comforts of calico and blankets, and the devastating though seductive influence of spirituous liquors. Yet nothing occurred to mar the peace hitherto existing with his white neighbors until their continued spread and seemingly insatiate demand for more territory aroused a feeling of jealous fear in his bosom. This awakening to the perils of his situation was, unfortunately for him, too late. The strength of the invaders already surpassed his own, and henceforth it was but a struggle against fate. Prior to the close of the Revolutionary war but little, if anything, had been done toward encouraging the Cherokee to adopt the customs and pursuits of civilized life. His native forests and streams had afforded him a sufficiency of flesh, fish, and skins to supply all his reasonable wants. Immediately upon the establishment of American Independence the policy to be pursued by the Government in its relations with the Indian tribes became the subject of grave consideration. The necessity began to be apparent of teaching the proximate tribes to cultivate the soil as a substitute for the livelihood hitherto gained through the now rapidly diminishing supplies of game. In the report of the commissioners appointed to negotiate the treaty of 1785, being the first treaty concluded between the Cherokees and the United States, they remark that some compensation should be made to the Indians for certain of their lands unlawfully taken possession of by the whites, and that the sum so raised should be appropriated to the purpose of teaching them useful branches of mechanics. Furthermore, that some of their women had lately learned to spin, and many others were "very desirous that some method should be fallen on to teach them to raise flax, cotton, and wool, as well as to spin and weave it."

Six years later, in the conclusion of the second treaty with them, it was agreed, in order "that the Cherokee Nation may be led to a greater degree of civilization, and to become herdsmen and cultivators instead of remaining in a state of hunters, the United States will from time to time furnish gratuitously the said nation with useful implements of husbandry." From this time forward the progress of the Cherokees in civilization and enlightenment was rapid and continuous.689 They had made such advancement that, nearly thirty years later,690 Return J. Meigs, their long time agent and friend, represented to the Secretary of War that such Government assistance was no longer necessary or desirable; that the Cherokees were perfectly competent to take care of themselves, and that further contributions to their support only had a tendency to encourage idleness and dependence upon the Government.

Their country was especially adapted to stock raising and their flocks and herds increased in proportion to the zeal and industry of their owners. The proceeds of their surplus cotton placed within reach most of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. The unselfish devotion of the missionary societies had furnished them with religious and school instruction, of which they had in large numbers eagerly availed themselves.691 From the crude tribal government of the eighteenth century they had gradually progressed until in the month of July, 1827, a convention of duly elected delegates from the eight several districts into which their country was divided692 assembled at New Echota, and announced that "We, the representatives of the people of the Cherokee Nation, in convention assembled, in order to establish justice, insure tranquillity, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty, acknowledging with humility and gratitude the goodness of the sovereign Ruler of the Universe in offering us an opportunity so favorable to the design and imploring His aid and direction in its accomplishment, do ordain and establish this constitution for the government of the Cherokee Nation." By the constitution thus adopted the power of the nation was divided into legislative, executive, and judicial departments. The legislative power was vested in a committee and a council, each to have a negative on the other, and together to be called the "General Council of the Cherokee Nation." This committee consisted of two and the council of three members from each district, and were to be elected biennially by the suffrages of all free male citizens (excepting negroes and descendants of white and Indian men by negro women who may have been set free) who had attained the age of eighteen years. Their sessions were annual, beginning on the second Monday in October. Persons of negro or mulatto blood were declared ineligible to official honors or emoluments.

The executive power of the nation was confided to a principal chief, elected by the general council for a term of four years, and none but native born citizens were eligible to the office. The chief was required to visit each district of the nation at least once in two years, to keep himself familiarized with the condition and necessities of the country. His approval was also required to all laws, and, as in the case of our own Government, the exercise of the veto power could be overcome only by a two-thirds majority in both houses of the national legislature. An executive council of three members besides the assistant principal chief was also to be elected by the joint vote of the two houses for the period of one year.

The judicial functions were vested in a supreme court of three judges and such circuit and inferior courts as the general council should from time to time prescribe, such judges to be elected by joint vote of the general council.

Ministers of the gospel who by their profession were dedicated to the service of God and the care of souls, and who ought not therefore to be diverted from the great duty of their function, were, while engaged in such work, declared ineligible to the office of principal chief or to a seat in either house of the general council. Any person denying the existence of a God or a future state of rewards and punishments was declared ineligible to hold any office in the civil department of the nation, and it was also set forth that (religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government, the preservation of liberty, and the happiness of mankind) schools and the means of education should forever be encouraged in the nation.

Under this constitution elections were regularly held and the functions of government administered until the year 1830, when the hostile legislation of Georgia practically paralyzed and suspended its further operation. Although forbidden to hold any more elections, the Cherokees maintained a semblance of their republican form of government by tacitly permitting their last elected officers to hold over and recognizing the authority and validity of their official actions. This embarrassing condition of affairs continued until their removal west of the Mississippi River, when, on the 6th of September, 1839, they, in conjunction with the "Old Settlers," adopted a new constitution, which in substance was a duplicate of its predecessor.

This removal turned the Cherokees back in the calendar of progress and civilization at least a quarter of a century. The hardships and exposures of the journey, coupled with the fevers and malaria of a radically different climate, cost the lives of perhaps 10 per cent of their total population. The animosities and turbulence born of the treaty of 1835 not only occasioned the loss of many lives, but rendered property insecure, and in consequence diminished the zeal and industry of the entire community in its accumulation. A brief period of comparative quiet, however, was again characterized by an advance toward a higher civilization. Five years after their removal we find from the report of their agent that they are again on the increase in population; that their houses, farms, and fixtures have greatly improved in the comforts of life; that in general they are living in double cabins and evincing an increasing disposition to provide for the future; that they have in operation eleven common schools, superintended by a native Cherokee, in which are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, bookkeeping, grammar, geography, and history, which are entirely supported at the expense of their own national funds, and which are attended by upwards of five hundred scholars; that the churches are largely attended and liberally supported, the Methodists having 1,400 communicants, the Baptists 750, and other denominations a smaller number; that a national temperance society boasts of 1,752 members; that they maintain a printing press, from which publications are issued in both the English and Cherokee tongues; that some of them manifest a decided taste for general literature and a few have full and well selected libraries; that thousands of them can speak and write the English language with fluency and comparative accuracy; that hundreds can draw up contracts, deeds, and other instruments for the transfer of property, and that in the ordinary transactions of life, especially in making bargains, they are shrewd and intelligent, frequently evincing a remarkable degree of craft and combination; that their treatment of their women had undergone a radical change; that the countenance and encouragement given to her cultivation disclosed a more exalted estimate of female character, and that instead of being regarded as a slave and a beast of burden she was now recognized as a friend and companion.

Thus, with the exception of occasional drawbacks—the result of civil feuds—the progress of the nation in education, industry, and civilization continued until the outbreak of the rebellion. At this period, from the best attainable information, the Cherokees numbered twenty-one thousand souls. The events of the war brought to them more of desolation and ruin than perhaps to any other community.

Raided and sacked alternately, not only by the Confederate and Union forces, but by the vindictive ferocity and hate of their own factional divisions, their country became a blackened and desolate waste. Driven from comfortable homes, exposed to want, misery, and the elements, they perished like sheep in a snow storm. Their houses, fences, and other improvements were burned, their orchards destroyed, their flocks and herds slaughtered or driven off, their schools broken up, and their school-houses given to the flames, their churches and public buildings subjected to a similar fate, and that entire portion of their country which had been occupied by their settlements was distinguishable from the virgin prairie only by the scorched and blackened chimneys and the plowed but now neglected fields.

The war over and the work of reconstruction commenced, found them numbering fourteen thousand impoverished, heart broken, and revengeful people. But they must work or starve, and in almost sullen despair they set about rebuilding their waste places. The situation was one calculated to discourage men enjoying a higher degree of civilization than they had yet reached, but they bent to the task with a determination and perseverance that could not fail to be the parent of success.

To-day their country is more prosperous than ever. They number twenty-two thousand, a greater population than they have had at any previous period, except perhaps just prior to the date of the treaty of 1835, when those east added to those west of the Mississippi are stated to have aggregated nearly twenty-five thousand people.693 To-day they have twenty-three hundred scholars attending seventy-five schools, established and supported by themselves at an annual expense to the nation of nearly $100,000. To-day thirteen thousand of their people can read and eighteen thousand can speak the English language. To-day five thousand brick, frame, and log houses are occupied by them; and they have sixty-four churches with a membership of several thousand. They cultivate a hundred thousand acres of land and have an additional one hundred and fifty thousand fenced. They raise annually 100,000 bushels of wheat, 800,000 of corn, 100,000 of oats and barley, 27,500 of vegetables, 1,000,000 pounds of cotton, 500,000 pounds of butter, 12,000 tons of hay, and saw a million feet of lumber. They own 20,000 horses, 15,000 mules, 200,000 cattle, 100,000 swine, and 12,000 sheep.

They have a constitutional form of government predicated upon that of the United States. As a rule, their laws are wise and beneficent and are enforced with strictness and justice. Political and social prejudice has deprived the former slaves in some instances of the full measure of rights guaranteed to them by the treaty of 1866 and the amended constitution of the nation, but time is rapidly softening these asperities and will solve all difficulties of the situation.

The present Cherokee population is of a composite character. Remnants of other nations or tribes have from time to time been absorbed and admitted to full participation in the benefits of Cherokee citizenship. The various classes may be thus enumerated:

1. The full blood Cherokees.

2. The mixed blood Cherokees.

3. The Delawares.

4. The Shawnees.

5. White men and women intermarried with the foregoing.

6. A few Creeks who broke away from their own tribe and have been citizens of the Cherokee Nation for many years.

7. A few Creeks who are not citizens, but have taken up their abode in the Cherokee country, without any rights.

8. A remnant of the Natchez tribe, who are citizens.

9. The freedmen adopted under the treaty of 1866.

10. Freedmen not adopted, but not removed as intruders, owing to an order from the Indian Department forbidding such removal pending a decision upon their claims to citizenship.

If the Government of the United States shall in this last resort of the Cherokees prove faithful to its obligations and maintain their country inviolate from the intrusions of white trespassers, the future of the nation will surely prove the capability of the American Indian under favorable conditions to realize in a high degree the possibilities of Anglo-Saxon civilization.

Table showing approximately the area in square miles and acres ceded to the United States
by the various treaties with the Cherokee Nation:

INDEX.