Cherokee History and the Spirit Family

A long time ago when the Cherokee people were new upon the earth, they thought that life would be much better if there was never any night. They beseeched the Ouga (Creator) that it might be day all the time and that there would be no darkness.

The Creator heard their voices and made the night cease and it was day all the time. Soon, the forest was thick with heavy growth. It became difficult to walk and to find the path. The people toiled in the gardens many long hours trying to keep the weeds pulled from among the corn and other food plants. It got hot, very hot, and continued that way day after long day. The people began to find it difficult to sleep and became short tempered and argued among themselves.

Not many days had passed before the people realized they had made a mistake and, once again, they beseeched the Creator. "Please," they said, "we have made a mistake in asking that it be day all the time. Now we think that it should be night all the time." The Creator paused at this new request and thought that perhaps the people may be right even though all things were created in twos...representing to us day and night, life and death, good and evil, times of plenty and those times of famine. The Creator loved the people and decided to make it night all the time as they had asked.

The day ceased and night fell upon the earth. Soon, the crops stopped growing and it became very cold. The people spent much of their time gathering wood for the fires. They could not see to hunt meat and with no crops growing it was not long before the people were cold, weak, and very hungry. Many of the people died.

Those that remained still living gathered once again to beseech the Creator. "Help us Creator," they cried! "We have made a terrible mistake. You had made the day and the night perfect, and as it should be, from the beginning. We ask that you forgive us and make the day and night as it was before."

Once again the Creator listened to the request of the people. The day and the night became, as the people had asked, as it had been in the beginning. Each day was divided between light and darkness. The weather became more pleasant, and the crops began to grow again. Game was plentiful and the hunting was good. The people had plenty to eat and there was not much sickness. The people treated each other with compassion and respect. It was good to be alive. The people thanked the Creator for their life and for the food they had to eat.

The Creator accepted the gratitude of the people and was glad to see them smiling again. However, during the time of the long days of night, many of the people had died, and the Creator was sorry that they had perished because of the night. The Creator placed their spirits in a newly created tree. This tree was named a-tsi-na tlu-gv {ah-see-na loo-guh} cedar tree.

When you smell the aroma of the cedar tree or gaze upon it standing in the forest, remember that if you are Tsalagi {Cherokee}, you are looking upon your ancestor.

“In the spring of 1842, Sequoyah, his son Teesey, The Worm, and six others left Park Hill. They crossed the Arkansas River near Fort Gibson, passed the present town of Holdenville, then Edwards Settlement, and then traveled down the road laid out by Lt. Levensworth. Fifteen days further into their journey, they crossed the Red River near the present town of Sherman, Texas. For approximately thirty-five days, they traveled among the Wichita villages along the Red River. During this time, Sequoyah became very ill from a lack of food. After purchasing three bushels of corn from the Wichitas, his health improved. At that time, all the party except The Worm and Teesey returned to the Cherokee Nation. The three continued on south to about eighty miles north of San Antonio, Texas, where all their horses were stolen. Instead of attempting to recover them, Sequoyah sent The Worm and Teesey on to San Antonio to see if they could obtain more horses as well as supplies. When they arrived, they were questioned and finally given supplies. However, no horses were to be spared, as they were in use by the US Army. The Worm and Teesey returned to Sequoyah, and he told them he wished to stay where he was while they went on to find Mexican settlements to try and obtain horses. They found a cave where he could have shelter, gathering honey and venison to nourish him while they were on their journey.

Their journey south took them nineteen days, at which time they came to a large river. They started working on a raft to cross it, and a Mexican on the other side called to them that there was a ferry further downstream. When they arrived at the ferry, The Worm and Teesey were taken to a town six miles away where they were presented to the head man…

After the second morning, we left and went to a town called San Cranto, about thirty miles away, where we spent the night. Our luck was good and we found a Cherokee, whose name was Standing Rock. He answered many of our questions. We were then assured it would give the Cherokees in Mexico great pleasure to see Sequoyah. Standing Rock then went with Teesey and The Worm to the Cherokee village, situated within a large prairie, in a grove of timber… a mile wide, and some three miles long and watered by means of a ditch, from a large spring some two miles distant which was about 10 miles from San Cranto. Although the Cherokees were glad to see them, they were not able to provide any horses, as all of theirs had perished after their arrival in Mexico.

The party then returned to San Cranto where they were able to borrow a horse from the Mexican Army, and was supplied with bread, meat, salt, sugar and coffee for their trip. There were nine in the party. After seventeen days, they reached the Mauluke River and noticed the tracks of a man after they crossed it. They recognized the characteristic tracks of Sequoyah because of his limp. They traveled on to the cave and confirmed that he was not there; he had left a note bound to a tree which said that the water had rose within the cave and had washed away his supplies. He had decided to come on the way and to set fire to the grass as a trail so they could find him. They followed his trail and tracks and found evidence that he acquired a horse and food. The next day, they found his camp because they happened to hear the neighing of a horse. There they found him sitting by a fire. He had suffered greatly. He told them that some Delawares had given the horse and fresh supplies to him.

They stayed for five days, long enough to gain a good supply of meat. They all then continued their journey and reached the river near the Mexican village. Sequoyah stayed in the village while The Worm went to recover the stolen horses. After some time, a party of Caddos that returned from Mexico reported that Sequoyah had died.”

Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate vol. 1, no. 51 
Wednesday, March 4, 1829 
pg. 2 Col. 5a-Pg.3
Coosa River, In Turkey Town.
C.N. 9th February 1829. 

To the Cherokee People.

The undersigned in behalf of a long meeting, composed of the Citizens of Turkey Town, take the liberty of addressing you through the public journal of our Nation, on the subject of emigration to the west, to which the United States have their attention. The view we take of this measure, and the sentiments will take occasion to express, will be simple and plain, founded on truth as handed down to us by our ancestors. Limited in knowledge and possessing but a small share of experience, our apology in this attempt is in the interest we feel in everything that concerns the well being of our Nation. Our ancestors settled in this place at a period not now in our recollection. Here was sacred ground, and on this spot the Council-fire blazed with lustre, and here were the dwellings and seats of Kings and our beloved Chief - We speak of days when we lived in the hunter's state, and when our feet were swift in the track of game. 

General Washington, after having smoked the pipe of peace with our Chiefs, sent us word to discontinue the pursuit of vagrant habits and adopt those more substantial and become cultivators of the soil. His successors pursued, in regard to us, the same policy, and sent to us the same Talk from time to time -- that as game was precarious and liable to destruction, the bosom of the earth afforded means of subsistence, both infinite and inexhaustible. But time was not allowed us to experience the blessing of putting this recommendation to practice by interested wicked white men, who lived near to us, and who esteemed us a nuisance, because the Great Spirit had placed our habitations in a desirable County, and because they themselves had crossed the Big Water (the Ocean) and had become our neighbors. The bitter cup of adversity was filled to us on every side, by our enemies. Our safety was often endangered by intrigue and misreprensentation of our character to the General Government; and it was not mental or natural disability that opposed itself to our advancement in civilization, but obstacles placed in our way to reach it. 

The Indians were represented as incapable of learning the arts of civilized life, and at the same time treated in a most uncivil manner. They were savagely revengeful, because they had the spirit to resent the murder of their friends & relations. They were rogues and thieves, because, not knowing the mother of legal processes to obtain justice, and if they did, their oath decreed to be non-availing, they retaliated in the same way. They were drunkards, because intoxicating liquors were introduced among them. They were disinclined to the study of books, because of some few superficially educated under bad instruction had betrayed their countrymen and had set bad examples. They were stubborn, because they loved the land that had been endeared to them as an inheritance of their fathers. This flood of inconsistency raged with violence over the heads of our Chiefs & swept with its waves, from under their feet, the earth, for which they had struggled for ages past. In this way our territory diminished, and our inheritance was circumscribed to its present bounds. 

Our Chief displayed wonderful forbearance in this trial, and maintained the faith of treaties, with the United States, whose chief magistrate also exercised the spirit of paternal affection, and adhered to his engagements as pledged to us by treaties. With caution have we passed the strong shoals of opposition, and its mingled cruelties to the light of civilization. The sun has arisen in our moral horizon and is fast advancing to its meridian. We hail it with joy! Although a part of our nation have detached themselves from us, to follow the chase, in the western wilds, and we are invited to retrograde to savageism, with strong talks and inducements as bribes our appetite for our present enjoyments if is too strong to relinquish them because we have tasted their sweets and are contented. 

We have noticed the ancient ground of complaint founded on the ignorance of our ancestors and their fondness of the chase, and for the purposes of agriculture as having in possession too much land for their numbers. What is the language of objection at this time? The case is reversed, and we are now assaulted with menaces of expulsion because we have unexpectedly become civilized and because we have formed and organized a constitutional government. It is too much for us now to be honest and virtuous and industrious because then are we capable of aspiring to the calls of Christians and Politicians which renders our attachment to the soil more strong and therefore more difficult to defend us of the possession. Disappointment inflicts on the mind of the avaricious white man; the mortification of delay, or the probability of the intended victim's escape from the snares laid for its destruction. It remains for us in this situation of the question, to act as free agents in choosing for ourselves to walk in the straight forward path of the impartial recommendations of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, as most congenial to our feelings and knowledge of the means calculated to promote our happiness. We hereby individually set our faces to the rising sun and turn our backs to its setting. As our ancestors revered the sepulchral monuments of the noble dead, we cherish the sacred of their repose as they lie under hillocks of clay that cover them from our sight. 

If the country, to which we are directed to go is desirable and well watered, why is it so long a wilderness and a wasteland and uninhabited by respectable white people whose enterprise ere this, would have attended them to monopolize it from the poor and unfortunate of their fellow citizens as they have hitherto done? From correct information we have formed a bad opinion of the western country beyond the Mississippi. But if report was favorable to the fertility of the soil, if the running streams were as transparent as crystal, and silver fish abounded in their element in profusion we should still adhere to the purposes of spending the remnant of our lives on the soil that gave us birth and rendered dear from the nourishment we receive from its bosom. 

We take the liberty of acknowledging our obligations to Major Ridge for his attendance at our meeting and for an eloquent speech suitable for the occasion which he delivered at our request. 

MONEY HUNTER, his x mark. 
TAH-KA-HA-KEE, his x mark. 
SCATTERED, his x mark. 
KUNG-WAS-SOO-LAS-KEE, his x mark.
KILLER, his mark. 
RICHD. RATLIFF, Jr. his x mark. 
CRYING SNAKE, his x mark. 
RESURRECTION, his x mark. 
FOLLOWER, his x mark. 

More than a year ago we were officially given to understand by the secretary of war, that the president could not protect us against the laws of Georgia. This information was entirely unexpected; as it went upon the principle, that treaties made between the United States and the Cherokee nation have no power to withstand the legislation of separate states; and of course, that they have no efficacy whatever, but leave our people to the mercy of the neighboring whites, whose supposed interests would be promoted by our expulsion, or extermination. It would be impossible to describe the sorrow, which affected our minds on learning that the chief magistrate of the United States had come to this conclusion, that all his illustrious predecessors had held intercourse with us on principles which could not be sustained; that they had made promises of vital importance to us, which could not be fulfilled – promises made hundreds of times in almost every conceivable manner, often in the form of solemn treaties, sometimes in letters written by the chief magistrate with his own hand, very often in letters written by the secretary of war under his direction, sometimes orally by the president and the secretary to our chiefs, and frequently and always, both orally and in writing by the agent of the United States residing among us, whose most important business it was, to see the guaranty of the United States faithfully executed.

Soon after the war of the revolution, as we have learned from our fathers, the Cherokees looked upon the promises of the whites with great distrust and suspicion; but the frank and magnanimous conduct of General Washington did much to allay these feelings. The perseverance of successive presidents, and especially of Mr. Jefferson, in the same course of policy, and in the constant assurance that our country should remain inviolate, except so far as we voluntarily ceded it, nearly banished anxiety in regard to encroachments from the whites. To this result the aid which we received from the United States in the attempts of our people to become civilized, and the kind efforts of benevolent societies, have greatly contributed. Of late years, however, much solicitude was occasioned among our people by the claims of Georgia.

In December 1829, the Georgia legislature passed a bill which annexed a large section of the Cherokee territory, annulled Cherokee laws, and decreed that Indians were not to be considered competent witnesses in court cases against whites. This stripped the Cherokee people of all legal protection from whites wanting their land. This solicitude arose from the apprehension, that by extreme importunity, threats, and other undue influence, a treaty would be made, which should cede the territory, and thus compel the inhabitants to remove. But it never occurred to us for a moment that without any new treaty, without any assent of our rulers and people, without even a pretended compact, and against our vehement and unanimous protestations, we should be delivered over to the discretion of those, who had declared by a legislative act, that they wanted the Cherokee lands and would have them.

Finding that relief could not be obtained from the chief magistrate, and not doubting that our claim to protection was just, we made our application to congress. During four long months our delegation waited, at the doors of the national legislature of the United States, and the people at home, in the most painful suspense, to learn in what manner our application would be answered; and, now that congress has adjourned, on the very day before the date fixed by Georgia for the extension of her oppressive laws over the greater part of our country, the distressing intelligence has been received that we have received no answer at all; and no department of the government has assured us, that we are to receive the desired protection. But just at the close of the session, an act was passed, by which a half a million of dollars was appropriated towards effecting a removal of Indians; and we have great reason to fear that the influence of this act will be brought to bear most injuriously upon us.

The passage of this act was certainly understood by the representatives of Georgia as abandoning us to the oppressive and cruel measures of the state, and as sanctioning the opinion that treaties with Indians do not restrain state legislation. We are informed by those, who are competent to judge, that the recent act does not admit of such construction; but that the passage of it, under the actual circumstances of the controversy, will be considered as sanctioning the pretensions of Georgia, there is too much reason to fear.

Thus have we realized, with heavy hearts, that our supplication has not been heard; that the protection heretofore experienced is now to be withheld; that the guaranty, in consequence of which our fathers laid aside their arms and ceded the best portions of their country, means nothing; and that we must either emigrate to an unknown region and leave the pleasant land to which we have the strongest attachment, or submit to the legislation of a state, which has already made our people outlaws, and enacted that any Cherokee, who shall endeavor to prevent the selling of his country, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary of Georgia not less than four years. To our countrymen this has been melancholy intelligence, and with the most bitter disappointment has it been received.

But in the midst of our sorrows, we do not forget our obligations to our friends and benefactors. It was with sensations of inexpressible joy that we have learned that the voice of thousands, in many parts of the United States, has been raised in our behalf, and numerous memorials offered in our favor, in both houses of congress. To those numerous friends, who have thus sympathized with us in our low estate, we tender our grateful acknowledgements. In pleading our cause, they have pleaded the cause of the poor and defenceless throughout the world. Our special thanks are due, however, to those honorable men, who so ably and eloquently asserted our rights, in both branches of the national legislature. Their efforts will be appreciated wherever the merits of this question shall be known; and we cannot but think, that they have secured for themselves a permanent reputation among the disinterested advocates of humanity, equal rights, justice, and good faith. We even cherish the hope, that these efforts, seconded and followed by others of a similar character, will yet be available, so far as to mitigate our sufferings, if not to effect our entire deliverance.

Before we close this address, permit us to state what we conceive to be our relations with the United States. After the peace of 1783, the Cherokees were an independent people; absolutely so, as much as any people on earth. They had been allies to Great Britain, and as a faithful ally took a part in the colonial war on her side. They had placed themselves under her protection, and had they, without cause, declared hostility against their protector, and had the colonies been subdued, what might not have been their fate? But her power on this continent was broken. She acknowledged the independence of the United States, and made peace. The Cherokees therefore stood alone; and, in these circumstances, continued the war. They were then under no obligations to the United States any more than to Great Britain, France or Spain. The United States never subjugated the Cherokees; on the contrary, our fathers remained in possession of their country, and with arms in their hands.

The people of the United States sought a peace; and, in 1785, the treaty of Hopewell was formed, by which the Cherokees came under the protection of the United States, and submitted to such limitations of sovereignty as are mentioned in that instrument. None of these limitations, however, affected, in the slightest degree, their rights of self-government and inviolate territory. The citizens of the United States had no right of passage through the Cherokee country till the year 1791, and then only in one direction, and by an express treaty stipulation. When the federal constitution was adopted, the treaty of Hopewell was confirmed, with all other treaties, as the supreme law of the land.

In 1791, the treaty of Holston was made, by which the sovereignty of the Cherokees was qualified as follows: The Cherokees acknowledged themselves to be under the protection of the United States, and of no other sovereign.  They engaged that they would not hold any treaty with a foreign power, with any separate state of the union, or with individuals. They agreed that the United States should have the exclusive right of regulating their trade; that the citizens of the United States should have a right of way in one direction through the Cherokee country; and that if an Indian should do injury to a citizen of the United States he should be delivered up to be tried and punished. A cession of lands was also made to the United States. On the other hand, the United States paid a sum of money; offered protection; engaged to punish citizens of the United States who should do any injury to the Cherokees; abandoned white settlers on Cherokee lands to the discretion of the Cherokees; stipulated that white men should not hunt on these lands, nor even enter the country without a passport; and gave a solemn guaranty of all Cherokee lands not ceded. This treaty is the basis of all subsequent compacts; and in none of them are the relations of the parties at all changed.

The Cherokees have always fulfilled their engagements. They have never reclaimed those portions of sovereignty which they surrendered by the treaties of Hopewell and Holston. These portions were surrendered for the purpose of obtaining the guaranty which was recommended to them as the great equivalent. Had they refused to comply with their engagements, there is no doubt the United States would have enforced a compliance. Is the duty of fulfilling engagements on the other side less binding than it would be, if the Cherokees had the power of enforcing their just claims? The people of the United States will have the fairness to reflect, that all the treaties between them and the Cherokees were made, at the solicitation, and for the benefit, of the whites; that valuable considerations were given for every stipulation, on the part of the United States; that it is impossible to reinstate the parties in their former situation, that there are now hundreds of thousands of citizens of the United States residing upon lands ceded by the Cherokees in these very treaties; and that our people have trusted their country to the guaranty of the United States. If this guaranty fails them, in what can they trust, and where can they look for protection?

We are aware, that some persons suppose it will be for our advantage to remove beyond the Mississippi. We think otherwise. Our people universally think otherwise. Thinking that it would be fatal to their interests, they have almost to a man sent their memorial to congress deprecating the necessity of a removal. This question was distinctly before their minds when they signed their memorial. Not an adult person can be found, who has not an opinion on the subject, and if the people were to understand distinctly, that they could be protected against the laws of the neighboring states, there is probably not an adult person in the nation, who would think it best to remove; though possibly a few might emigrate individually. There are doubtless many, who would flee to an unknown country, however beset with dangers, privations and sufferings, rather than be sentenced to spend six years in a Georgia prison for advising one of their neighbors not to betray his country. And there are others who could not think of living as outlaws in their native land, exposed to numberless vexations, and excluded from being parties or witnesses in a court of justice. It is incredible that Georgia should ever have enacted the oppressive laws to which reference is here made, unless she had supposed that something extremely terrific in its character was necessary in order to make the Cherokees willing to remove. We are not willing to remove; and if we could be brought to this extremity, it would be not by argument, not because our judgment was satisfied, not because our condition will be improved; but only because we cannot endure to be deprived of our national and individual rights and subjected to a process of intolerable oppression.

We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to remain without interruption or molestation. The treaties with us, and laws of the United States made in pursuance of treaties, guaranty our residence and our privileges, and secure us against intruders. Our only request is, that these treaties may be fulfilled, and these laws executed.

But if we are compelled to leave our country, we see nothing but ruin before us. The country west of the Arkansas territory is unknown to us. From what we can learn of it, we have no prepossessions in its favor. All the inviting parts of it, as we believe, are preoccupied by various Indian nations, to which it has been assigned. They would regard us as intruders, and look upon us with an evil eye. The far greater part of that region is, beyond all controversy, badly supplied with wood and water; and no Indian tribe can live as agriculturists without these articles. All our neighbors, in case of our removal, though crowded into our near vicinity; would speak a language totally different from ours, and practice different customs. The original possessors of that region are now wandering savages lurking for prey in the neighborhood. They have always been at war, and would be easily tempted to turn their arms against peaceful emigrants. Were the country to which we are urged much better than it is represented to be, and were it free from the objections which we have made to it, still it is not the land of our birth, nor of our affections. It contains neither the scenes of our childhood, nor the graves of our fathers.

The removal of families to a new country, even under the most favorable auspices, and when the spirits are sustained by pleasing visions of the future, is attended with much depression of mind and sinking of heart. This is the case, when the removal is a matter of decided preference, and when the persons concerned are in early youth or vigorous manhood. Judge, then, what must be the circumstances of a removal, when a whole community, embracing persons of all classes and every description, from the infant to the man of extreme old age, the sick, the blind, the lame, the improvident, the reckless, the desperate, as well as the prudent, the considerate, the industrious, are compelled to remove by odious and intolerable vexations and persecutions, brought upon them in the forms of law, when all will agree only in this, that they have been cruelly robbed of their country, in violation of the most solemn compacts, which it is possible for communities to form with each other; and that, if they should make themselves comfortable in their new residence, they have nothing to expect hereafter but to be the victims of a future legalized robbery!

Such we deem, and are absolutely certain, will be the feelings of the whole Cherokee people, if they are forcibly compelled, by the laws of Georgia, to remove; and with these feelings, how is it possible that we should pursue our present course of improvement, or avoid sinking into utter despondency? We have been called a poor, ignorant, and degraded people. We certainly are not rich; nor have we ever boasted of our knowledge, or our moral or intellectual elevation. But there is not a man within our limits so ignorant as not to know that he has the right to live on the land of his fathers, in the possession of his immemorial privileges, and that this right has been acknowledged and guaranteed by the United States; nor is there a man so degraded as not to feel a keen sense of injury, on being deprived of this right and driven into exile.

It is under a sense of the most pungent feelings that we make this, perhaps our last appeal to the good people of the United States. It cannot be that the community we are addressing, remarkable for its intelligence and religious sensibilities, and pre-eminent for its devotion to the rights of man, will lay aside this appeal, without considering that we stand in need of its sympathy and commiseration. We know that to the Christian and to the philanthropist the voice of our multiplied sorrows and fiery trials will not appear as an idle tale. In our own land, on our own soil, and in our own dwellings, which we reared for our wives and for our little ones, when there was peace on our mountains and in our valleys, we are encountering troubles which cannot but try our very souls. But shall we, on account of these troubles, forsake our beloved country? Shall we be compelled by a civilized and Christian people, with whom we have lived in perfect peace for the last forty years, and for whom we have willingly bled in war, to bid a final adieu to our homes, our farms, our streams and our beautiful forests?  No. We are still firm. We intend still to cling, with our wonted affection, to the land which gave us birth, and which, every day of our lives, brings to us new and stronger ties of attachment.

We appeal to the judge of all the earth, who will finally award us justice, and to the good sense of the American people, whether we are intruders upon the land of others. Our consciences bear us witness that we are the invaders of no man's rights—we have robbed no man of his territory—we have usurped no man's authority, nor have we deprived any one of his unalienable privileges. How then shall we indirectly confess the right of another people to our land by leaving it forever? On the soil which contains the ashes of our beloved men we wish to live—on this soil we wish to die.

We entreat those to whom the foregoing paragraphs are addressed, to remember the great law of love. ‘Do to others as ye would that others should do to you.’ Let them remember that of all nations on the earth, they are under the greatest obligation to obey this law. We pray them to remember that, for the sake of principle, their forefathers were compelled to leave, therefore driven from the old world, and that the winds of persecution wafted them over the great waters and landed them on the shores of the new world, when the Indian was the sole lord and proprietor of these extensive domains.  Let them remember in what way they were received by the savage of America, when power was in his hand, and his ferocity could not be restrained by any human arm. We urge them to bear in mind, that those who would now ask of them a cup of cold water, and a spot of earth, a portion of their own patrimonial possessions, on which to live and die in peace, are the descendants of those, whose origin, as inhabitants of North America, history and tradition are alike insufficient to reveal. Let them bring to remembrance all these facts, and they cannot, and we are sure, they will not fail to remember, and sympathize with us in these our trials and sufferings.

Concord

April 23, 1838

Sir, my communication respects the sinister rumors that fill this part of the country concerning the Cherokee people. The interest always felt in the aboriginal population – an interest naturally growing as that decays – has been heightened in regard to this tribe. Even in our distant State some good rumor of their worth and civility has arrived. We have learned with joy their improvement in the social arts. We have read their newspapers. We have seen some of them in our schools and colleges. In common with the great body of the American people, we have witnessed with sympathy the painful labors of these red men to redeem their own race from the doom of eternal inferiority, and to borrow and domesticate in the tribe the arts and customs of the Caucasian race. And notwithstanding the unaccountable apathy with which of late years the Indians have been sometimes abandoned to their enemies, it is not to be doubted that it is the good pleasure and the understanding of all humane persons in the Republic, of the men and the matrons sitting in the thriving independent families all over the land, that they shall be duly cared for; that they shall taste justice and love from all to whom we have delegated the office of dealing with them.

The newspapers now inform us that, in December, 1835, a treaty contracting for the exchange of all the Cherokee territory was pretended to be made by an agent on the part of the United States with some persons appearing on the part of the Cherokees; that the fact afterwards transpired that these deputies did by no means represent the will of the nation; and that, out of eighteen thousand souls composing the nation, fifteen thousand six hundred and sixty-eight have protested against the so-called treaty. It now appears that the government of the United States choose to hold the Cherokees to this sham treaty, and are proceeding to execute the same. Almost the entire Cherokee Nation stand up and say, “This is not our act. Behold us. Here are we. Do not mistake that handful of deserters for us;” and the American President and the Cabinet, the Senate and the House of Representatives, neither hear these men nor see them, and are contracting to put this active nation into carts and boats, and to drag them over mountains and rivers to a wilderness at a vast distance beyond the Mississippi. As a paper purporting to be an army order fixes a month from this day as the hour for this doleful removal.

In the name of God, sir, we ask you if this be so. Do the newspapers rightly inform us? Man and women with pale and perplexed faces meet one another in the streets and churches here, and ask if this be so. We have inquired if this be a gross misrepresentation from the party opposed to the government and anxious to blacken it with the people. We have looked at the newspapers of different parties and find a horrid confirmation of the tale. We are slow to believe it. We hoped the Indians were misinformed, and that their remonstrance was premature, and will turn out to be a needless act of terror.

The piety, the principle that is left in the United States, if only in its coarsest form, a regard to the speech of men, forbid us to entertain it as a fact. Such a dereliction of all faith and virtue, such a denial of justice, and such deafness to screams for mercy were never heard of in times of peace and in the dealing of a nation with its own allies and wards, since the earth was made. Sir, does this government think that the people of the United States are become savage and mad? From their mind are the sentiments of love and a good nature wiped clean out? The soul of man, the justice, the mercy that is the heart in all men from Maine to Georgia, does abhor this business.

In speaking thus the sentiments of my neighbors and my own, perhaps I overstep the bounds of decorum. But would it not be a higher indecorum coldly to argue a matter like this? We only state the fact that a crime is projected that confounds our understanding by its magnitude, a crime that really deprives us as well as the Cherokees of a country for how could we call the conspiracy that should crush these poor Indians our government, or the land that was cursed by their parting and dying imprecations our country, anymore? You, sir, will bring down that renowned chair in which you sit into infamy if your seal is set to this instrument of perfidy; and the name of this nation, hitherto the sweet omen of religion and liberty, will stink to the world.

You will not do us the injustice of connecting this remonstrance with any sectional and party feeling. It is in our hearts the simplest commandment of brotherly love. We will not have this great and solemn claim upon national and human justice huddled aside under the flimsy plea of its being a party act. Sir, to us the questions upon which the government and the people have been agitated during the past year, touching the prostration of the currency and of trade, seem but motes in comparison. These hard times, it is true, have brought the discussion home to every farmhouse and poor man’s house in this town; but it is the chirping of grasshoppers beside the immortal question whether justice shall be done by the race of civilized to the race of savage man, whether all the attributes of reason, of civility, of justice, and even of mercy, shall be put off by the American people, and so vast an outrage upon the Cherokee Nation and upon human nature shall be consummated.

One circumstance lessens the reluctance with which I intrude at this time on your attention my conviction that the government ought to be admonished of a new historical fact, which the discussion of this question has disclosed, namely, that there exists in a great part of the Northern people a gloomy diffidence in the moral character of the government. On the broaching of this question, a general expression of despondency, of disbelief that any good will accrue from a remonstrance on an act of fraud and robbery, appeared in those men to whom we naturally turn for aid and counsel. Will the American government steal? Will it lie? Will it kill? - We ask triumphantly. Our counselors and old statesmen here say that ten years ago they would have staked their lives on the affirmation that the proposed Indian measures could not be executed; that the unanimous country would put them down. And now the steps of this crime follow each other so fast, at such fatally quick time, that the millions of virtuous citizens, whose agents the government are, have no place to interpose, and must shut their eyes until the last howl and wailing of these tormented villages and tribes shall afflict the ear of the world.

I will not hide from you, as an indication of the alarming distrust, that a letter addressed as mine is, and suggesting to the mind of the Executive the plain obligations of man, has a burlesque character in the apprehensions of some of my friends. I, sir, will not beforehand treat you with the contumely of this distrust. I will at least state to you this fact, and show you how plain and humane people, whose love would be honor, regard the policy of the government, and what injurious inferences they draw as to the minds of the governors. A man with your experience in affairs must have seen cause to appreciate the futility of opposition to the moral sentiment. However feeble the sufferer and however great the oppressor, it is in the nature of things that the blow should recoil upon the aggressor. For God is in the sentiment, and it cannot be withstood. The potentate and the people perish before it; but with it, and its executor, they are omnipotent.

I write thus, sir, to inform you of the state of mind these Indian tidings have awakened here, and to pray with one voice more that you, whose hands are strong with the delegated power of fifteen millions of men, will avert with that might the terrific injury which threatens the Cherokee tribe.

With great respect, sir, I am your fellow citizen,

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Union and Confederate troops had frequently skirmished in the vicinity of Honey Springs Depot in the Indian Territory of east-central Oklahoma. The Union commander in the area, Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt, correctly surmised that Confederate forces, mostly Native American troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Cooper, were about to concentrate and attack his force at Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River. He decided to meet and engage the Confederates before they were joined by Brig. Gen. William Cabell’s brigade, advancing from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Blunt began crossing the swollen Arkansas River on July 15th, and, by midnight on July 16-17th, he had a force of 3,000 men composed of whites, Native Americans, and African Americans, marching toward a Confederate depot at Honey Springs. Blunt skirmished with Rebel troops early on the morning of the 17th, and by mid-afternoon, full-scale fighting ensued. The Confederates had wet powder, causing misfires, and the problem intensified when rain began again. After repulsing one attack, Cooper pulled his forces back to obtain new ammunition. In the meantime, Cooper began to experience command problems, and learned that Blunt was about to turn his left flank. The Confederate retreat began, and although Cooper fought a rearguard action, many of those troops counterattacked, failed, and fled. Any possibility of the Confederates taking Fort Gibson was gone. Following the battle, Union forces controlled the Indian Territory north of the Arkansas River.

The Battle of Honey Springs…was the result of Blunt’s decision to trump a planned offensive by Cooper. Early in July 1863 the Confederates failed to capture a Union wagon train at Cabin Creek in northeast Indian Territory. The train was headed south from Fort Scott, Kan., to Fort Gibson - the lynchpin in the Union’s Indian Territory defense, as it dominated the junction of the Arkansas River and the Texas Road. The Union fort, in the center of the Cherokee portion of Indian Territory, had been active since 1824 but was abandoned in mid-1862….

To ensure success, Cooper chose to await reinforcements from Fort Smith, Ark., under Brigadier General William L. “Old Tige” Cabell. While awaiting the arrival of Cabell’s force of 3,000, Cooper and his men occupied and gathered supplies at a venerable trading post on Elk Creek called Honey Springs Depot… Meanwhile, Blunt was alerted to the precarious position of the garrison at Fort Gibson by the Cabin Creek wagon train attack. Therefore, he dispatched a division to the area and arrived on July 11 to take command personally. Cooper’s position and intentions were garnered from spies. On July 15, Blunt forded the rain-swollen Arkansas River with 250 cavalry and four mountain howitzers… At 10 p.m. on July 16, Union infantry crossed the river on flatboats and the expedition marched all night on the Texas Road. In Blunt’s force was 1st Kansas Volunteer Infantry (Colored), one of the initial African-American regiments organized in the Union Army. Other units were 1st, 2nd and 3rd Indian Home Guards, made up primarily of Creek and Cherokee tribesmen (plus a few Osage, Delaware, Kickapoo, Seneca, Quapaw and Shawnee). Rounding out the Union force were Smith’s Kansas Battery, Hopkins’ Kansas Battery, 2nd Colorado Infantry, 6th Kansas Cavalry and 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry. Blunt’s total effective force was 3,000 with 12 pieces of artillery.

The effective force under Cooper on July 17 at Honey Springs was 4,500, since he had ordered Colonel Stand Watie and 1,500 troops to the vicinity of Webber’s Falls, about 25 miles east, to create a diversion. If Cabell’s command had joined the fight, the Confederates could have outnumbered Blunt 3-to-1. But unfortunately for Cooper, Cabell had a reputation for responding slowly to orders and he proved not to have changed his habits. Meanwhile, Blunt’s force arrived undetected, surprising Cooper’s advance guard five miles north of the depot. The Federal cavalry drove the Confederates back on their main force, and Blunt’s men paused for a short rest and meal after the grueling march.

At 10 a.m. on July 17, Blunt’s force advanced south on the Texas Road in two columns, the right wing under Colonel William R. Judson of 6th Kansas Cavalry and the left under Colonel William A. Phillips of 3d Indian Home Guard and Union Indian Brigade commander. As the Federals moved across the prairie, they came upon Cooper’s mile-and-a-half line stretched across the wooded north bank of Elk Creek… Blunt ordered his columns into a single line of battle a mile wide. Skirmishers crept forward, artillery unlimbered and the cannonade began. Hopkins’ battery was attached to the left and Smith’s to the right.

Across the field, Cooper placed his veteran Texans in the center along with Lee’s battery containing three mountain howitzers and an experimental 2¼-inch rifled gun forged at Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. A group of Choctaw soldiers arrived in the Confederate center to extend the line of the dismounted troopers of 29th Texas Cavalry. Flanking the Texans were the Creek regiments on the left, commanded by Colonel Daniel N. McIntosh, and the Cherokee regiments on the right, under Colonel William Penn Adair (since Watie was leading the detached force near Webber’s Falls). Throughout the four-hour battle, the Confederates were seriously plagued by greatly inferior gunpowder….

The artillery duel lasted about an hour and a quarter, with each side concentrating fire on the opposing guns and causing casualties among the crews. At the same time, the Union cavalry dismounted and skirmished with Confederates on the flanks in the brush and woods. The fighting was hot all along the lines as Union soldiers moved to within a quarter mile of the Confederates in the north bank timber. The concentrated fire of Hopkins’ battery knocked one gun of Lee’s battery off its carriage. By this time the lines were only a few hundred yards apart, setting the stage for the pivotal event of the battle.

The 1st Kansas was firing into the center of the enemy line when the left of 2d Indian Home Guard, positioned to the right of the African-American regiment, came into the line of fire. Lieutenant Colonel John Bowles ordered his men to cease firing to avoid hitting their fellow soldiers. At the same time, the commander of 2d Indian Home Guard ordered his men back into the line. Colonel Thomas C. Bass, in command of the center of the Confederate line, misinterpreted these events as the beginning of a Union retreat and rashly ordered a charge by 20th and 29th Texas. The Texans advanced into a deadly crossfire and were driven back, initiating a collapse of the Confederate line.

The fighting continued at a vicious level, sometimes hand to hand, as the Confederates fell back across the toll bridge over Elk Creek. The Confederates with Lee’s remaining three cannon stubbornly contested the bridge, but to no avail…

The Confederates fell back on their camp at Honey Springs Depot and burned as much of their supplies as they could before abandoning it. The Creeks, who were but little engaged while guarding the extreme Confederate left against a Union flanking maneuver that never materialized, covered the retreat along with Scanland’s and Gillette’s squadrons…he Confederates, many mounted, retreated to North Fork Town to the south, the rear covered by Tandy Walker’s regiment. Blunt, his men exhausted and most on foot, did not pursue, but instead returned to Fort Gibson.

The Union victory at the Battle of Honey Springs prevented the Confederates from controlling Indian Territory north of the Arkansas River. This opened the path for Blunt and Union forces to move on Fort Smith, which was taken two months later in September. Combined with the Union advance under Major General Frederick Steele west from Helena, Ark., the base established there seriously compromised Confederate efforts to maintain control of that state.”

“On the evening of the 5th the main body of the two divisions was encamped near McKisick's farm, 3 miles southward of Bentonville and I mile from the fork of the roads leading west to Maysville and northeast to Pineville. The Second Missouri, under Colonel Schaefer, and one company of cavalry were stationed at Osage Mills, otherwise called Smith's Mill, 5 miles southeast of McKisick's farm, whilst our pickets guarded all the other avenues to the camp. For the purpose of reconnoitering the country towards the Indian Territory and to detain the rebels of Southwest Missouri from following Price's army by the State line road, Major Conrad, with five select companies of infantry, 60 men of cavalry, and two pieces of Welfley's battery, was ordered to proceed on the first day to Lindsey's Prairie, where he arrived in the evening, 16 miles southwest of McKisick's farm, on the 2d (the 5th) to Maysville, and to return on the third day to our own camp.

Such was our position on the evening of the 5th, when I received orders from you to send a detachment of cavalry to Pineville, where there were said to be some 200 or 300 rebels, who disturbed and endangered the Union people of McDonald County. I directed Major Meszaros, with 80 men, to march at 10 o'clock p.m. on the northwestern road to Pineville, whilst Capt. von Kielmansegge was sent to Major Conrad at Maysville, to lead his 60 men of cavalry, with one piece of artillery and 20 infantry, at 10 o'clock in the night, from Maysville to Rutledge and Pineville, and to act in concert with Major Meszaros. A Home Guard company, stationed between Pineville and Keetsville, was ordered to occupy at night the roads leading to Neosho and Kent, and thereby prevent the secesh to escape in that direction. Major Meszaros and Capt. von Kielmansegge should approach the town from the east, southeast, and southwest. It was understood that these detachments should attack the town simultaneously at 5 o'clock in the morning.

Just a few minutes before 10 o'clock in the evening, when Meszaros was prepared to leave the camp, I received news from Colonel Schaefer, at Osage Mills, that his pickets posted in the direction of Elm Springs were fired upon by the enemy. This, in addition to your own dispatches reporting the enemy's force at Fayetteville and a strong party of cavalry advancing towards Middletown, and, besides this, your order to march to Sugar Creek, made me at once aware of the dangerous position of my command. I therefore ordered Colonel Schaefer to break up his camp immediately, to send the cavalry company to Osage Springs to cover his right flank, and to march with his regiment to Bentonville, leaving Osage Springs to the right and McKisick's farm to the left. All other troops I ordered to be prepared to march at 2 o'clock in the morning. In regard to the expedition to Pineville, it was too late to countermand the movement under Captain von Kielmansegge, and I therefore ordered Major Meszaros to begin his march and to accomplish his task with his own detachment and that of Captain von Kielman-segge, but to return to Sugar Creek as quickly as possible, without ruining his horses, so that they could be of some use in the ensuing battle. Major Conrad was made aware of our situation, and instructed to join us at Sugar Creek by some circuitous road leading northeast. The result of the expedition was not very great, but satisfactory.

The attack was made according to the instructions given and at the precise time, but only 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, and 15 men of Price's army were found in the town and made prisoners; the others had left some days previous. The commands of Major Meszaros and Captain von Kielmansegge arrived safely on the 6th in our camp at Sugar Creek, bringing with them their prisoners. Unfortunately they had to leave behind and to destroy a printing press and types taken at Pineville, as the roads they took were too bad to bring this important material along. Major Conrad, with his detachment, found his way to Keetsville and Cassville, which place he left on the 9.th, and arrived at the former place, with Colonel Wright, some time after I had opened the road to Cassville on the pursuit of Price's force, which retired from Keetsville to Berryville.

At 2 o'clock in the morning of the 6th the troops encamped at McKisick's farm moved forward towards Bentonville in the following order: Advance guard, under Asboth: One company of Fourth Missouri Cavalry (Fremont Hussars); Second Ohio Battery, under command of Lieutenant Chapman; Fifteenth Missouri Volunteers, under command of Colonel Joliat. Train of First and Second Divisions, escorted and guarded by detachments of the respective regiments. The First Division, under Colonel Osterhaus. The flying battery, the Fifth Missouri Cavalry (Benton Hussars), and the squadron of the Thirty-sixth Illinois Cavalry, Captain Jenks.

Before leaving camp I detached Lieutenant Schipper, of Company A, Benton Hussars, with 20 men, to Osage Springs, to communicate with Colonel Schaefer, and to bring news to Bentonville as soon as the enemy would approach that place. The advance guard of General Asboth arrived at Bentonville at 4 o'clock, when I directed him to halt until the train had come up more close. He then proceeded to Sugar Creek, followed by the train. Meanwhile the Second Missouri, Colonel Schaefer, and one part of the First Division arrived in town. I ordered this regiment, as well as the Twelfth Missouri, under command of Major Wangelin, the flying battery, under Captain Elbert, and the whole disposable cavalry force, under Colonel Nemett, comprising the Benton Hussars, the Thirty-sixth Illinois Cavalry, under Captain Jenks, and a squad of 13 men of Fremont Hussars, under Lieut. Fred. W. Cooper, to occupy and guard the town, to let the whole train pass, and remain at my disposition as a rear guard.

At 8 o'clock the train had passed the town and was moving on the road to Sugar Creek. With the intention not to be too close to the train and awaiting report from Lieutenant Schipper's picket at Osage Springs two hours elapsed, when ten minutes after 10 it was reported to me that large masses of troops, consisting of infantry and cavalry, were moving from all sides towards our front and both flanks.

After some observation I had no doubt that the enemy's advance guard was before us. I immediately called the troops to arms and made them ready for battle. As Bentonville is situated on the edge of Osage Prairie, easily accessible in front and covered on the right and left and rear by thick woods and underbrush, I ordered the troops to evacuate the town and to form on a little hill north of it. Looking for the Second Missouri, I learned to my astonishment that it had already left the town by a misunderstanding of my order. I am glad to say that this matter is satisfactorily explained by Colonel Schaefer, but at the same time I regret to report that this regiment was ambuscaded on its march and lost in the conflict 37 men in dead, wounded, and prisoners.

The troops now left to me consisted of about eight companies of the Twelfth Missouri, with an average strength of 45 men, five companies of Benton Hussars, and five pieces of the flying battery; in all about 600 men. The troops I directed to march in the following order: Two companies of the Twelfth at the head of the column, deployed on the right and left as skirmishers, followed by the flying battery; one company of the same regiment on the right and one on the left of the pieces, marching by the flank, and prepared to fire by ranks to the right and left, the remainder of the regiment behind the pieces, two companies of cavalry to support the infantry on the right and left, and the rest of the cavalry, under command of Colonel Nemett, with one piece of artillery, following in the rear. In this formation, modified from time to time according to circumstances, the column moved forward to break through the lines of the enemy, who had already taken position in our front and in both flanks, whilst he appeared behind us in the town in line of battle, re-enforced by some pieces of artillery. The troops advanced slowly, fighting and repelling the enemy in front, flankward, and rear, wherever he stood or attacked.

From the moment we left the town, at 10.30 in the morning, until 3.30 o'clock in the afternoon, when we met the first re-enforcements--the Second Missouri, the Twenty-fifth Illinois, and a few companies of the Forty-fourth Illinois--we sustained three regular attacks, and were uninterruptedly in sight and under the fire of the enemy. When the first re-enforcement had arrived I knew that we were safe, and left it to the Twenty-fifth and Second Missouri, and afterwards to Colonel Osterhaus, to take care of the rest, which he did to my satisfaction. It would take too much time to go into the detail of this most extraordinary and critical affair, but as a matter of justice I feel it my duty to declare that according to my humble opinion, never troops have shown themselves worthier to defend a great cause than on this day of the 6th of March.

In the night of the 6th the two divisions were encamped on the plateau of the hills near Sugar Creek and in the adjoining valley separating the two ridges extending along the creek. The Second Division held the right, the First the left of the position, flouting towards the west and southwest, in order to receive the enemy should he advance from the Bentonville and Fayetteville road. Colonel Davis' division, forming the center, was on our left, and Colonel Carr covered the ground on the extreme left of our whole line. Early in the morning report came in that troops and trains of the enemy were moving the whole night on the Bentonville road around our rear towards Cross Timber, thereby endangering our line of retreat and communication to Keetsville, and separating us from our re-enforcements and provision trains. This report was corroborated by two of my guides, Mr. Pope and Mr. Brown, who had gone out to reconnoiter the country. I immediately ordered Lieutenant Schramm, of my staff, to ascertain the facts, and to see in what direction the troops were moving. On his return 'he reported that there was no doubt in regard to the movement of a large force of the enemy in the aforesaid direction. You then ordered me to detach three pieces of the flying battery to join Colonel Bussey's cavalry in an attack against the enemy in the direction of Leesville. Colonel Osterhaus was directed to follow him with three regiments of infantry and two batteries.

At about 11 o'clock the firing began near Elkhorn Tavern and Leesville. To see how matters stood, I went out to Colonel Carr's division, and found him a short distance beyond the tavern, engaged in a brisk cannonade. Several pieces, partly disabled and partly without ammunition, were returning, whilst another advanced from the camp. As the enemy's fire was directed to the place where I halted, I ordered two pieces of the battery which came up to take position on an elevated ground to the left and to shell the enemy. After a few shots the fire of the enemy opposite our position became weaker, and I sent the two pieces forward to join their battery. I then returned to look after my own troops, and passing along the road met the Third Iowa Cavalry, which had been sent in advance of Colonel Osterhaus, and which now escorted their lieutenant-colonel, who was severely wounded, back into the camp. I immediately sent to you to order the regiment back to Leesville, which order was given, and the regiment returned. I met Lieutenant Gassen, of the flying battery, who reported to me that our cavalry had been driven back by an overwhelming force, and our three pieces taken by the enemy, as there was no infantry to support them. I now ordered Major Meszaros and the two other pieces of the flying battery to re-enforce Colonel Osterhaus, but during their march I learned that Colonel Davis had been directed to advance with his whole division to Leesville, which induced me to send only Major Meszaros to that point, and directed the two pieces of the flying battery to act as reserve, and to join the troops left in their encampment. Proceeding to the camp to see what was going on there and whether we were safe in our rear (towards Bentonville), I found the following troops assembled in their respective positions: The Seventeenth Misouri and a detachment nt of 60 men of the Third Missouri; the Twenly-fifth and the Forty-fourth Illinois ; two pieces of Welfley's battery (12-pounders) ; two companies Thirty-sixth Illinois Cavalry, and nearly the whole Second Division, comprising the Second and Fifteenth Missouri, Carlin's battery, and two companies of the Benton Hussars.

It was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon when the cannonading and musket firing became more vehement, and when you ordered me to re-enforce Colonel Carr at Elkhorn Tavern, and Colonel Davis and Colonel Osterhaus near Leesville, as both forces, especially those at Leesville, were, according to your reports, pressed hard and losing ground. I therefore sent General Asboth, with four companies of the Second Missouri, under Colonel Schaefer, and four pieces of the Second Ohio Battery, under Lieutenant Chapman, to assist Colonel Carr. Major Poten, with the Seventeenth Missouri, one company of the Third Missouri, two companies of the Fifteenth Missouri, two pieces of the flying artillery, under Captain Elbert, and two companies of the Benton Hussars, under Major Heinrichs, I ordered to advance on the Sugar Creek road towards Bentonville, to demonstrate against the rear of the enemy. Two pieces of the Second Ohio Battery, with six companies of the Second Missouri, remained in their position to guard the camp and two companies of the Forty-fourth Illinois, with 20 men of the Thirty-sixth Illinois Cavalry, under Captain Russell, were sent forward in a northwestern direction, to remain there as a picket between Leesville and the Sugar Creek road. With all other troops--the Fifteenth Missouri, the Twenty-fifth and Forty-fourth Illinois, and the two pieces of Captain Welfley's battery--I marched to Leesville, to re-enforce Colonels Davis and Osterhaus. My intention was to throw back the enemy from Leesville into the mountains and towards Bentonville, and then, by a change of direction to the right to assist General Asboth and Colonel Carr by deploying on their left.

On my march to Leesville, I heard Major Poten's firing on the Ben-tonville road. Arrived at Leesville, the firing in front had ceased, whilst it commenced with new vehemence on the right, at Elkhorn Tavern. At this moment Captain McKenny, acting assistant adjutant-general, requested me, by order of General Curtis, to send some more re-enforcements to the right, which I did, by detaching five companies of the Twenty-fifth Illinois and four pieces of Captain Hoffmann's battery, stationed in reserve at Leesville, to Elkhorn Tavern. I then proceeded beyond the town to the battlefield, which I found in full possession of Colonels Davis and Osterhaus. As no enemy could be seen except a small detachment on a distant hill, I requested Colonel Davis to protect my left flank, by sending his skirmishers and one regiment of infantry forward through the woods, whilst I proceeded with the Twenty-fifth Illinois and four pieces of Welflcy's and Hoffmann's batteries on the road to the northeast, which was already opened by the Forty-fourth Illinois and Fifteenth Missouri. After making 1 mile and passing two hospitals of the enemy I ordered Colonel Osterhaus to follow me with the Twelfth Missouri and Thirty-sixth Illinois and a section of artillery, which troops came up promptly, except the two pieces, 12-pounders, that remained with Colonel Davis. We advanced slowly, and after making half a mile more we reached an open field, where we took our position, and from which we could easily discern the campfires of our friends and those of our enemies near Elkhorn Tavern. I sent immediately to General Curtis to apprise him of my position and that I was ready to co-operate with him. Meanwhile night had fallen in, and although the cannonading was renewed on the right, I did not believe that after a hard day's work the enemy would make a final and decisive attack. In order, therefore, to disguise our position from which I intended to advance in the morning I kept the troops in the strictest silence, and did not allow the building of camp-fires or any movement farther than 200 to 300 paces distance. So we remained until 1 o'clock in the morning, when I found it necessary to remove the troops by a short and convenient road into our common camp, to give them some food, sleep, and a good fire, and to prepare them for battle.

To show the whole position of the First and Second Divisions on the evening of the 7th, allow me, general, to make the following statement: Beginning on the left, Major Poten, with the Seventeenth Missouri, one company of the Third Missouri, two companies of the Fifteenth Missouri, two pieces of the flying artillery, and two companies of the Benton Hussars were stationed on the Sugar Creek and Bentonville road, 3 miles from the camp. The entrance of the road from this side was guarded by two pieces of the Second Ohio Battery and six companies of the Second Missouri. Towards the north (Leesville) two companies of the Forty-fourth Illinois and 20 men of the Thirty-sixth Illinois Cavalry remained on picket. On the right, near Elkhorn Tavern, were the following troops: Four companies of the Second Missouri, five companies of the Twenty-fifth Illinois, four pieces of the Second Ohio Battery, and four pieces of Captain Hoffmann's battery. In the field to the left of General Asboth and Colonel Cart, under my immediate command,were the Twelfth Missouri, the Fifteenth Missouri, the Twenty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, and Forty-fourth Illinois, two pieces of Captain Welfley's and two pieces of Captain Hoffmann's batteries. The Fremont and Benton Hussars and one section of Captain Welfley's battery returned to camp with Colonel Davis.

The detachment of Major Conrad, consisting of six companies of infantry detailed from the Third, Fifteenth, and Seventeenth Missouri and Thirty-sixth Illinois, and one piece of Captain Welfley's battery, was encamped a few miles west of Keetsville. One piece of Captain Welfley's battery was spiked and then taken by the enemy, but retaken and unspiked. Three pieces of Captain Elbert's flying battery had been lost near Leesville, the trails burned by the enemy, and the guns left on the battlefield. Another piece of this battery had broken down on the retreat from Bentonville to Sugar Creek, but the gun was recovered and brought into camp.

The different combats of the 7th had fully developed the plans of the enemy. It was evident that his main forces were stationed near and at Elkhorn Tavern, and that he would make all efforts to break through our lines on the Fayetteville road, and thereby complete his apparent victory. I therefore resolved to recall all troops and different detachments of the First and Second Divisions from wherever they were stationed (with the exception of four companies of the Second Missouri and four pieces of artillery from the Second Ohio Battery sent to their original position on Sugar Creek), and to fall upon the right flank of the enemy should he attack or advance from Elkhorn Tavern. At daybreak of the 8th the following troops were assembled near and around my headquarters awaiting orders: First Division, Colonel Osterhaus: Two companies Third Missouri Volunteers; Twelfth and Seventeenth Missouri; Twenty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, and Forty-fourth Illinois; Welfley's battery, five pieces; Hoffmann's battery, six pieces; Captain Jenks' squadron of the Thirty-sixth Illinois.  Second Division, General Asboth, Second Missouri, six companies; Fifteenth Missouri; two pieces Second Ohio Battery, Lieutenant Chapman; battalion (four companies) Fourth Missouri Cavalry (Fremont Hussars); six companies Fifth Missouri Cavalry (Benton Hussars); two pieces of Captain Elbert's flying battery.

It was about 7 o'clock in the morning when the firing began on the Keetsville road, this side of Elkhorn Tavern. I was waiting for Colonel Osterhans and Lieutenant Asmussen, of my staff, who had gone out to reconnoiter the ground on which I intended to deploy and to find the nearest road to that ground. The Forty-fourth Illinois had already been sent in advance to form our right, when the above-named officers returned and the movement began In less than half an hour the troops were in their respective positions, the First Division forming the first line, the Second Division, with all the cavalry, the reserve, 250 paces behind the first line.. To protect and cover the deployment of the left wing I opened the fire on the right with a section of Captain Hoffmann's battery, under Lieutenant Frank, and the five pieces of Captain Welfley's battery. The enemy returned the fire promptly and with effect, but was soon outflanked by our position on the left and exposed to a concentric and most destructive fire of our brave and almost never-failing cannoneers.

After the first discharges on a distance of 800 paces I ordered Captain Welfley and Lieutenant Frank to advance about 250 yards, to come into close range from the enemy's position, whilst I threw the Twenty-fifth Illinois forward on the right, to cover the space between the battery and the Keetsville road. Colonel Schaefer, with the Second Missouri, was ordered to proceed to the extreme left, and by forming against the cavalry, to protect our left flank. This movement proved of great effect, and I now ordered the center and the left to advance 200 paces and brought the reserve forward on the position which our first line had occupied. I then took a battery commanded by Captain Klauss, and belonging to Colonel Davis' division, nearer to my right, and reported to you that the road towards Elkhorn Tavern was open and we were advancing. About this time, when the battle had lasted about one hour and a half, the enemy tried to extend his line farther to the right, in occupying the first hill of the long ridge commanding the plain and the gradually rising ground where we stood. His infantry was already lodged upon the hill, seeking shelter behind the rocks and stones, whilst some pieces of artillery worked around to gain the plateau.

I immediately ordered the two howitzers of the reserve (Second Ohio, under Lieutenant Gansevoort) and the two pieces of Captain Elbert's flying battery to report to Colonel Osterhaus on the left, to shell and batter the enemy on the hill. This was done in concert with Hoffmann's battery and with terrible effect to the enemy, as the rocks and stones worked as hard as the shells and shot. The enemy's plan to enfilade our lines from the hill was frustrated, and he was forced to lead a precipitate retreat with men and cannon. Encouraged by the good and gallant behavior of our troops, I resolved to draw the circle a little closer around the corner into which we had already pressed the enemy's masses, and ordered a second advance of all the batteries and battalions, changing the position of the right wing more to the left, and bringing the troops of the reserve, the Fifteenth Missouri, and the whole cavalry behind our left.

Assisted by Kiauss' battery on the right, and co-operating with the troops of the Third and Fourth Divisions, who advanced with new spirit on the Keetsville road, the enemy was overwhelmed by the deadly power of our artillery, and after about an hour's work the firing on his side began to slacken, and nearly totally ceased. To profit this favorable moment I ordered the Twelfth Missouri, the Twenty-fifth and Forty-fourth Illinois to throw forward a strong force of skirmishers and take the woods in front, where the enemy had planted one of his batteries. In the same time I ordered the Seventeenth Missouri Volunteers, which had arrived during the battle from Bentonville road, to climb the hill on our left and to press forward against the enemy's rear. The Thirty-sixth Illinois was also ordered to assist this movement and to hold communication between the Twelfth and Seventeenth Missouri Volunteers, whilst Colonels Schaefer and Joliat, with the Second and Fifteenth Missouri, followed slowly, and Colonel Nemett, with his cavalry, guarded the rear.

The rattling of musketry, the volleys, the hurrahs, did prove very soon that our troops were well at work in the woods, and that they were gaining ground rapidly. It was the Twelfth Missouri Volunteers, under Major Wangelin, which at this occasion took Dallas' artillery and their flag, followed close behind and on the right by part of the Third Missouri, the Forty-fourth Illinois, and Twenty-fifth and on the left by the Thirty-sixth Illinois. The Seventeenth Missouri, under Major Poten, had meanwhile arrived on the top of Pea Ridge, forming the extreme left of our line of battle.

The enemy was routed and fled in terror and confusion in all directions. It was a delightful moment when we all met after 12 o'clock on the eminence, where the enemy held positions with his batteries a few minutes before, and when you let pass by the columns of your victorious army. To pursue the enemy I sent Captain von Kielmansegge with one company of Fremont Hussars forward. The Seventeenth and Third Missouri followed in double-quick time, assisted by two pieces of Elbert's flying artillery, other troops of the First Division, all under Colonel Osterhaus, came up and continued their march towards Keetsville.

At the fork of the Benton and Keetsville roads I detached the Forty-fourth Illinois (Colonel Knobelsdorff), two pieces of artillery of the flying battery, and a squad of 30 men, Fremont Hussars, to proceed a short distance on the road to Bentonville and to guard that road. Arrived at Keetsville with the greatest portion of my command. I found that one part of the enemy had turned the Roaring River and Berryville, while others had turned to the left. I also received your order to return to Sugar Creek, which I did, and met the army on Sugar Creek at 4 o'clock in the evening of the 9th.

A list of the dead, wounded, and missing of this command has already been transmitted to you, and a special report mentioning those officers and men of my command who deserve consideration for their conduct in action, together with the reports of the different commanders of regiments and corps, will follow to-day, as some of the reports have not come in yet.”

Whereas Certain citizens of the Cherokee Nation became involved in the war in the United States on the side of the Rebellion and,

Whereas, The success of the Union arms has closed the war, and now offers a suitable opportunity for the return to the Cherokee Nation of such citizens as became enemies to the Government of the Cherokee Nation, by joining and adhering to said rebellion, and,

Whereas, The National Council are sincerely desirous of restoring peace and harmony, and of reuniting, as far as practicable, all the Cherokee people in the support of the Constitution and Laws of the Cherokee Nation, regardless of past differences; therefore,

Be it enacted by the National Council, That the Principal Chief be and he is hereby authorized and directed to offer amnesty and pardon to all citizens of the Cherokee Nation, who have directly or indirectly participated in the rebellion in the United States, and against the existing Government of the Cherokee Nation, except as hereinafter excepted, on condition that every such person shall subscribe, on his return to the Cherokee Nation, to the following oath, which shall be registered and preserved in the office of the clerk of the Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation, to wit:

"I do solemnly swear or affirm, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will hereafter faithfully abide by, support and defend the Con­stitution and Laws of the Cherokee Nation.”

And all such persons so subscribing to said oath are allowed to be thereby readmitted to citizenship in the Cherokee Nation, and restored to all rights and privileges enjoyed by other citizens, except the right to possess or recover any improvements, or other property, that has or may be sold under provisions of any act confiscating the effects of persons declared to be disloyal to the Cherokee Nation. Be it further enacted, That the following persons are excepted from the benefits of this act:

1st. All who have been military officers in the rebel service above the rank of captain since the first day of March, 1865.

2nd. All persons who held the pretended offices of Principal Chief and Assistant Principal Chief, Treasurer, and members of the Na­tional Council, in opposition to the existing Government of the Cherokee Nation.

3rd. All those citizens of the Cherokee Nation who may have violated their parole as prisoners of war, or deserted to the enemy from the 2nd and 3rd Regiments, I.H. Guards, or killed or otherwise maltreated loyal citizens or soldiers, while prisoners of war, and all white men, citizens of the Cherokee Nation by intermarriage, who may have joined and adhered to the rebellion.

Be it further enacted, That persons who may wish to return to the Cherokee Nation, under the provisions of this act, shall do so on or before the 1st of January, 1866, or be thereafter debarred the benefits of the same.

Be it further enacted, That special application may be made by any person excepted from the benefits of this act to the National Coun­cil for pardon and readmittance to citizenship in the Cherokee Nation.

Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Lewis Downing, Assistant and Acting Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, do hereby offer am­nesty and pardon to all citizens of the Cherokee Nation who parti­cipated in the Rebellion in the United States, and against the existing Government of the Cherokee Nation, upon the conditions set forth in the foregoing act, and earnestly invite all such citizens to return to the Cherokee Nation, comply with the requirements of said act, and hence­ forth lend their support to law and order in the Cherokee Nation.

Jack Grasshopper, McDonald Co., Southwest City, Missouri

Admitted. Claims through father enrolled as Grasshopper. Mother enrolled as Che-yer-ner-ner. Applicant enrolled as Jack. All of whom were enrolled by Drennen in 1851 Delaware District #332.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Washington, D. C.

Sir:

I hereby make application for such share as me be due me of the fund appropriated by the Act of Congress approved June 30, 1906, in accordance with the decrees of the Court of Claims of May 18, 1905, and May 28, 1906, in favor of the Eastern Cherokees. The evidence of identity is herewith subjoined.

1. State Full Name: English Name - Jack Grasshopper 
2. Residence - Delaware District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
3. Town and Post Office - Southwest City, Missouri
4. County - McDonald
5. State - Missouri
6. Date and Place of Birth - 1843 - Delaware District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
7. By what right do you claim to share? If you claim through more than one relative living in 1851, set forth each claim separately:
   Myself - Jack Grasshopper
   Father - Grasshopper
   Mother - Che-yer-ner-ner
   half brother - Si-ni-ka-na-ha-na
   Grandmother - Wat-ty
   Te-tee-caw-nes-ne (Te-ter-car-werne on Drennen Roll)
   Quaty Pigeon
   Awe
   Jack
   Johnson
   Oo-tes-lee-taw-ser (Oo-che-le-tau-ser on Drennen Roll)
   Rachel
   Cuns-too-ke
8. Are you married? No
9. Give names of your father and mother, and your mother's name before marriage:
   Father - English name - Grasshopper
   Mother - Indian name - Che-yer-nes-ner
   Maiden name - Che-yer-nes-ner
10. Where were they born? Both parents born Old Nation
11. Where did they reside in 1851, if living at that time? Both parents residing in Delaware District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
12. Date of death of your father and mother? Father died about 1866. Mother died about 1870
13. Were they ever enrolled for annuities, land, or other benefits? If so, state when and where - Yes, in 1851, Delaware District, Cherokee Nation
14. Name all your brothers and sisters, giving ages, and if not living, give date of death - half brother - Se-ne-ka-naw-he-na dies about 1858
15. State English and Indian name of your grandparents on both father's and mother's side, if possible:
    Father's side - Ja-lu-na-hy (grandfather) and Saw-ka-ne (grandmother)
    Mother's side - Wa-ja-lun-ty (Grandfather) and Wat-ty (grandmother)
16. Where were they born? Old nation
17. Where did they reside in 1851, if living at that time? Delaware District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory
18. Have you ever been enrolled for annuities, land, or other benefits? If so, state when and where - yes, in 1851 and one other roll, in 1893 and with the Dawes Commission in Delaware District.

I solemnly swear that the foregoing statements made by me are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Witness to Mark: C. Dunlap and T. H. Thompson

Signed: Jack 'X' Grasshopper

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 10th day of November 1906.

Signed: J. J. Crawford, Notary Public

Affidavit

Personally appeared before me Joe Fox and Annie Snell, who being duly sworn, on oath depose and say that they are well acquainted with Jack Grasshopper, who makes the foregoing application and statements, and have known him for 26 years and 40 years, respectively, and know him to be the identical person he represents himself to be, and that the statements made by him are true, to the best of their knowledge and belief, and they have no interest whatever in his claim.

Witness to Mark: C. Dunlap and T. H. Thompson

Signatures of Witnesses: Joe 'X' Fox and Annie 'X' Snell

Hunter Buffalofish (Canahelage) - ECA 13231

Annie Vann Adair - ECA 5585

Edward Sylvester Adair - ECA 5586

Sarah Burrow - ECA 5885

Annie Harper Gladney Mayes - ECA 5645

Samuel Adair (Du-she-law-des ka) - ECA 411

Mother: Chowyouka Swimmer / Tsi-Yu-Ka / Chow-e-you-cah / Chiyuka / Chiouke (1790-1861)
Father: The Spirit (1797-1851)
Siblings: Charles Spirit (1832-1856), Watt Spirit (1834-1838)
Half-siblings: Chowyouka’s children with George Vann (1783-1873):

• Weely (1816-1864), had:
  • Tee-saw-yuh-hi (1836-1864)
• Annie (1823-1909) married Andrew Raven Adair (1801-1855), had:
  • Edward Sylvester (1851-1924) married Rebecca Baugh, had:
    • Clement D. (1890)
    • John H.
    • William T.
    • Lokie C.
    • Robert P. (1893)
  • Rosella (Chiouk) (1853-1936) married George Downing (1837-1894), had:
    • Annie Lydia (1870-1862), married William H. Pace (1867-1953)
    • Joel Mayes (1873-1951)
    • Lafayette (1874-1975)
    • Mary Mollie (1881)
    • Edward Adair (1883-1970)
  • Eaw-lah-nuh Raven married Sallie Tarpin (1846), had:
    • Joe Fox Raven (1879-after 1930)
    • John Leroy Raven (1889-1968) married Nancy Welch, had:
      • Peter Edwin (1908-1996)
      • Edna May (1909-1995)

Half-sibling: Chowyouka’s child with David Sconti:

• Susan Sconti (1843-1876) married William W. Miller (Dee-sto-stoak), had:
  • Sarah (1865-1952) married William H. Burrow (1851), had:
    • Charles H. (1888)
    • William D. (1891)
    • Bertha L. (1896)
    • Joseph W. (1898)
    • Franklin E. (1900)
    • Susie M. (1903)
  • Rosa (1870) married John W. Cheek (1861), had:
    • Myrtle T. (1890)
    • George (1891)
    • Roy (1893)
    • Nina (1899)
    • Margie (1900)
    • Evie (1902) 
  • Nancy (1872) married George Baldridge (1850), had:
    • Lucy (1888)
    • Rosie (1889)
    • Ada (1890)
    • Willie (1891)
    • Ford (1897)
    • Mary (1900)
    • David (1904)
    • Willard K. (1905)

Stepsibling: George Vann & E-Li-Si Ratt’s child:

• Lydia (1821) married Ti-es-kee Fields (1810-1855) in 1839, had:
  • Jane Jennie (1840-1872) married Rufus Bell Adair (1838-1881), had:
    • Susan Wut (1859) married Ellis Starr, had:
      • Clara E. (1880) - married Frank Manahan, had:
        • Henry A. (1883)
        • Samuel C. (1885)
        • Emma (1890)
        • Mary E. (1891)
        • Frank (1892)
        • Viola (1894)
        • Charles (1895)
        • William McKinley (1897), married Adair Smalley       
    • Mary (1861), married Lemaster
    • Sarah (1866), married Bigby
    • Samuel (1869-1925), married Mary Welch (1877-1953), had:
      • Jennie M. (1892)
      • Edna (1897)
      • Levi C. (1899)
      • Susan E. (1900)
      • Samuel Griffin (1905)
  • Thomas (1846)

Paternal grandparents:

• Buffalofish Spirit (Da-Gah-Sah-Tah) (1780-1842) married Wo-de-yo-he (1780-1859), had:
  • Crying Snake (E-nah-li-kah or E-nah-da-gah) married Alcie Vann
  • Alexander Buffalofish (Oo-ta-lah-nah) married A-toh-hee Cornsilk, had:
    • Ben Buffalo
  • Eagle-on-the-roost Buffalofish (Wa-lu-kil-lah or Chualukiller)
  • John Buffalofish (wife died at Ross’s Landing in 1839)
  • Charles Poorbear Buffalofish (?-1850) married Sallie Frisley (1822-1902), had:
    • Hunter Poorbear (1849) married Aggy (A-gy-me) Tail (1849), adopted:
      • Amos Tail (1885)
  • Peggy married Eagle. Had:
    • Rachel
    • Nelly
  • Nakey (Naky) married Nitts (O-ne-hut-tee), had:
    • Levi
    • Ice
    • Ah-claw-se-nee
    • Oo-nah-stul-lah
    • Te-tah-te-yas-kee
    • Caty
    • Lydia
  • So-wa-chee (Sar-wa-chee) married Sawney Vann, had:
    • Arch
    • Jennie
    • Lewis
    • Moses
    • Jack
    • De-gu-tlu-ga-sky
    • Tah-no-lee (1815), had:
      • Joseph (1835-1876), married Jennie Water Roe, had:
        • Katherine (Katy) (1873-1950)
  • Lee-sie
  • Sokinne
  • Unknown daughter married Teeartoonskie Baker, had:
    • Assetetu Wiper
    • Teeartoonskie

Maternal grandparents:

• Chi-wa-yu-ga (1765-1861) married Swimmer, had:
  • Chowyouka (1790-1861)
  • Jess Swimmer
  • Jim Swimmer married Aley, had:
    • George

Maternal step-grandmother:

• Ar-lie married Swimmer, had:
  • Mary (Wa-Ha-Chi)

Paternal great-grandfather:

• The Spirit (1760-1828) married Mary Blaylock, had:
  • John Spirit (1778-1858) married Nancy Gourd, had:
    • William (1814-1844) married Nancy Mush, who had these children earlier:
      • Rachel Crawfish
      • Mary Sally (1815) married Andrew Kell (1813), had:
        • Weeks Mix (1833) married Lucinda, had:
          • Mary Jane (1856)
          • Sarah Ann (1858)
          • Andrew (1862)
          • Susannah (1866)
          • James Lafayette (1868)
          • Alexander Francis (1870)
      • Jane Jenny (1817-1845) married Rider Fields (1812-1867), had:
        • Annie (1834-1893) married Archibald Ballard (1813-1871), had:
          • John (1849-1879)
          • William Houston (1851-1925)
          • Martha (1852)
          • Randolph (1854-1929)
          • Thomas Afton (1860-1935)
          • Susan (1869-1937)
        • Jane Jenny (1817-1845) married James Landrum (1818-1873), had:
          • Nancy Nuntay (1838-1868)
            • married George Lowrey, had:
              • Charles
            • married Nelson Ore, had:
              • Eliza (1836-1863)
            • married Jefferson Pack, had:
              • Daniel (1840-1863)
    • married Susannah (Tsah’wah’u'gah) (1760-1860), had:
    • Betsy Spirit (1777) married Sequoyah (1760-1843), had
      • Big Dollar George (1797-1837) married Tianna Knightkiller, had:
        • Robert Big Dollar Guess (1826), had:
          • William Big Money Guess married Jane Hilderbrand, had:
            • Alice (1867) married Beamer
        • Nancy
        • Moses
    • Mary Spirit (1779)
    • David Sconti Spirit (1781) married Mary Buffington (1788-1851), had:
      • David Sconti (1805-1861) married Susan
      • Susie Sconti (1806)
      • Peggy Sconti (1808)
    • Bufflofish Spirit (1783-1842), married Wo-de-yo-he (1780-1859)
    • Caty Spirit (1790-1869) married Knightkiller, had:
      • Henry
      • David (1816)

Paternal great-great grandfather:

• Old Sconti Spirit (1726-1765) married Mary Grant (1729-1782), had:
  • The Spirit (1760-1828)
  • Peggy (1756-1845) married William Shorey, Jr. (1750-1809), had:
    • Elsie (1794-1818) married Nathan Wolf Hicks, had:
      • Charles Edward (1810)
      • William (1813)
    • Lydia (1803-1834)
    • Elizabeth
  • Lydia (1758)

Mary Grant’s father and descendants:

• Ludovic Grant (1688-1757) married unknown Cherokee, had:
  • Mary Grant (1729-1782) married William Emory (1728-1770), had:
    • Mary (1746-1800) married Lafayette Ezekiel Buffington (1740-1818), had:
      • Mary Annie (1762-1854) married James Daniel, had:
        • Richard Buffington
      • married Daniel Treadway, had:
        • Francis Marion
      • Tahlonteeskee (1770-1819)
      • Elizabeth (1771) married David McGlaughlin
      • John Jolly (1776-1838)
      • Ellis Emory (1780-1858) married Catherine Daniel (1785-1867), had:
        • Reverend Ezekiel (1807-1898)
      • Mary (1788-1851) married David Sconti Spirit (1781), had:
        • David (1805-1861)
        • Susie (1806)
        • Peggy (1808)
    • Mary (1746-1800) married William Ephraim Fawling (1740), had
      • William (1774-1807)
      • John (1776-1807) married Nancy Vann (1786), had:
        • Ruth (1805) married John Shepherd (1790)
      • William, Jr. (1747-1783), had:
        • Thomas (Long Tom)
      • Elizabeth (1748-1794) married John Hellfire Rogers (1755), married Robert Due (1740-1806)
  • Susannah Catherine Grant (1727-1769) married Robert Emory (1718-1790), had:
    • Susannah (1751-1796) married Richard Fields (1745-1827), had:
      • Richard, Jr. (1762-1827) married Jennie Buffington (1780-1851)
      • Ezekiel (1789-1870) married Polly Ann Sexton, had:
        • Richard
    • John Fox (1764-1845) married Elizabeth Wickett (1770-1869), had:
      • James (1802-1855)
      • John Wickett (1803-1855) married Susannah, had:
        • Timothy (1816)
        • Elizabeth (1818-1914) married William Barnett, had:
          • Charles (1851-1910)
        • John McFerren (1822-1858)
      • Charles (1808-1855)
      • Ti-es-kee (1810-1855) married Lydia Vann (1821), had:
        • Jane Jennie (1839-1872) married Rufus Adair (1838-881), had:
          • Susan Wut (1859)
          • Mary (1861) married Lemaster
          • Sarah (1866) married Bigby
          • Samuel (1869-1925) married Mary Welch
        • Thomas (1846)
    • Thomas (1766) married Nannie Downing
    • George (1767-1858) married Nancy Brown
    • Lucy (1770) married Daniel McCoy (1760), had:
      • Alexander (1798-1860)
    • Chica-Klau-Gas-Sa (1774-1849) married Sarah Coody (1788-1849), had:
      • Richard G. (1807-1873)
      • Rider (1812-1867) married Jennie Spirit (1820-?), had:
        • Eliza (1836-1863)
      • Ruth (1815-1869) married John West (-1878)
    • Susannah (1751-1796) married John Stuart (1718-1779), had:
      • Oo-no-du-tu Bushyhead (1767-1816) married Nancy Foreman (1783-1868), had:
        • Jesse Bushyhead (1804-1844) married Eliza Wilkerson (1806-1872), had:
      • Jane (1824-1844) married Richard Drew, had:
        • William Henry
      • Dennis W. Bushyhead (1826-1898) married Elizabeth Scrimsher (1835-1882), had:
        • Dennis W. Jr.
        • Eliza
        • Jesse C.
        • Catherine
      • Charlotte Bushyhead (1830-1878) married George Washington Mayes (1824-1894), had:
        • Walter Adair (1860-1929) married Nannie Rider McCoy (1865-1961), had:
          • Hall B. (1891-1959)
          • Washington Irving (1893)
          • Mary Diana (1897-1969)
          • Jesse Lamar (1900-1967)
          • Joseph McCoy (1903)
      • Eliza Missouri Bushyhead (1839-1919) married David Rowe Vann (1833-1871)
    • Susannah (1751-1796) married John Martin (1744-1823), had:
      • John, Jr. (1784-1840) married Eleanor McDaniel (1793-1849), had:
        • Richard Fields (1827-1868)
        • Joseph Lynch (1820-1891)   
      • Nancy (1775-1837) married Jeter Lynch (1758-1819), had:
        • Martha Patsy (1801-1861) married James Allen Thompson (1795-1861), had:
          • Mathew (1826-1863)
          • Mary Ann (1839-1882)
        • Rachel (1812-) married Thomas Benjamin Adair (1794), had:
          • John Lynch (1835-1896)
      • Rachel (1788-1843) married Daniel Davis (1785-1868), had:
        • Martin (1809-1851) married Julia Ann Tate (1823-1882), had:
          • Rachel (1843)
          • Mary (1845)
          • John (1847)
        • Delilah (1816)
        • Coleman Jackson (1819)
        • Amanda Jane (1839-1901)
        • John               

Simon Snell (Snail) (1839-1877) married Annie Spirit, had:

• Charles Ewing (1867-1894)

Samuel Mayes-Annie Spirit children:

• Sarah (1849-1890) married William England, had:
  • Joseph Marion (1870-1947) married Sarah Scraper (1880), had:
    • William L. (1898)
    • Virgil (1900)
    • Pauline (1902)
    • Dudley (1903)
    • Henry (1904)
  • Lucy Ann (1873-1958) married Thomas M. Chitwood (1864-1933), had:
    • Walter Newton (1891)
    • Mamie Josephine (1894)
    • Homer Floyd (1899)
  • George W. (1875-1912) married Nellie White (1875-1906), had:
    • Flossa May (1898-1987)
    • Lura Elizabeth (1900)
    • George Lucille (1903-1985)
      • married Charles F. McGinnis (1841-1917), had:
    • William Townsend (1880-1955) married Grace Prichard, had:
      • Christine (1903)
      • Atha (1907-1998)
      • Clarence (1908-1972)Sarah Lucille (1910-2002)
      • Wilma Mearl (1914-2005)
      • Lottie Mae (1916-2006)       
    • Charlotte Elizabeth (1883-1948) married Samuel Charley (1875-1959), had:
      • William Campbell Charley (1900-1952)
    • Cleveland Charles (1885-1970)
• Charlotte (1850-1932) married William Houston Ballard (1852-1925), had:
  • Jane Anna (Janana) (1875-1956) married Jesse Stephen Lamar (1865-1927)
  • Anna Mae (1877-1932) married Connor Crawford (1881-1938), had:
    • Francis William (1902)
    • Ruth (1907)
    • Marvin Rogers (1904)
    • Millard (1906)
    • Rebecca (1914)
  • Lucinda (1879-1932) married William Lee Harlan (1874-1956), had:
    • Grace Leota (1905-?)
    • Vanney (1907)
    • Jewell Bernice (1913)
    • William Lee, Jr. (1920-1983)
  • Sarah Eleanor (1881-1944) married Roy H. Wood (1881-1960)
  • William Houston (1884-1951) married Anna Buchanan (1889-1910), had:
    • Tesquantnee Swimmer (1906-1968)
  • Ruth May (1887-1965) married Hardy Frank Fleming (1885-1926), had:
    • James William (1909-1949)
    • Clifford Ballard (1918-1991)
    • Mary Florita (1920-2016)                             
    • Joe Lindsey (1921-1971)
  • Ethel Savilla (1880-1953) married Robert Mayfield Hall (1889-1935)
  • Zorina (Zoe) Wyly (1882-1971) married Oscar Harold Bunch (1896-1963), had:
    • Dorothy Louise (1927-1941)
  • Jack (1873-1877)
• Elmira (1854-1914) married William John Gladney (1846-1904), had:
  • Joseph Foreman (1878-1958) married Mary Jane Dobson (1883-1961), had:
    • Ross (1908-1965)
    • Jackson (1910-1982)
    • Joe Wayne (1912-2005)
    • Mary Elizabeth (1921-2008)
    • Peggy (1924-2008)
  • Charlotte Lottie (1890-1928)
  • Annie L. (1881-1915) married Elmer H. McKinney (1870-1946), had:
    • John (1904-1973)
  • Mary Mollie (1883) married Jesse Beck (1881)
  • Minnie Bell (1888-1968) married David Napoleon McMahan (1894-1963), had:
    • Helen M. (1915-2002)
    • Curtis Roy (1918-2004)
    • David Lee (1921-2000)
    • Betty Jean (1925-2005)
  • Henry S. (1886)
  • Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bell (1893-1909)
  • John Rogers (1897-1970) married Louise Powers, had:
    • Juanita Margaret (1915-2001)           
    • married Daniel Finn, had:
    • Cynthia Ellen (1874-1965) married Archabale Leroy Ballard (1878-1953), had:
      • Ella Mae (1902)
      • Cherokee Elmira (1903)
      • Fannie E. (1905)
      • Randolph L. (1907)
      • Charles G. (1908)
• William Penn (1856-1944) married Annie Harper Gladney (1853-1929), had:
  • Nellie Maude (1880-1954) married William Harvey Barnes (1878-1929), had:
    • William Harvey (1915-2007) married Mary Elizabeth Estes (1918-2015), had:
      • William H. (1939)
    • married Mildred Norsworthy (1918-2009), had:
      • James Neil (1944)
      • Glenn (1946)
      • Robert (1953)
  • Margaret May (1878-1954) married James P. Thompson (1877-1953, had:
    • Claude Elmo (1903-1968) married Ruth Ann Collins (1907-1983), had:
      • Claude Edward
    • James Mayes (1901-1962) married Louise Pearson (1903-1977), had:
      • Betty Louise (1925-2009) married Harold Dealy (1927-2005)
      • James Pearson (1928-1980) married Patty Jean Paul, had:
  • Mary Hazel (1894-1954) married Les Lycan (1891-1925), had:
    • Mary Ann (1924-2012) married Marshall Crotts (1924-2005), had:
      • Daryl Allan (1950)
      • Marshall Leslie (1951)
      • Larry Marshall (1953)
  • Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bell (1886-1950) married Frank S. Miller
  • Ridge Parker (1888-1969) married Hattie Bosse (1888-1987), had:
    • Chester Ridge (1911-1999) married Virginia L. Atwood (1916-1993), had:
      • William Ridge (1918-1999)
      • Anetta Jean (1947)
    • Elizabeth Ann (1917-2005)
  • Joel Bryan (1884-1948) married Josie Bates
  • Claude Jackson (1882-1899)

Samuel Mayes-Nannie Adair (1807-1876) children:

• George Washington (1824-1894) married Charlotte Bushyhead, had:
  • Jesse Bushyhead (1847-1899)
  • George Washington (1848-1940)
  • Nancy Jane (1850-1928) married James McDaniel Keys (1843-1917), had:
    • Dennis Bushyhead (1878-1926) married Nannie Riley (1883-1964), had:
      • Gordon Linsay (1905-1981)
    • W.E. (1879)
    • Bluford Alberty (1882-1933) married Deliah Lively
    • Elizabeth Covel (1885-1954) married Lee Mills
  • Walter Adair (1860-1929)
  • Edward Bushyhead (1853-1874)
  • John Thompson (1863-1899)
  • Samuel Houston (1866-1956) married Florence Nicodemus (1871-1957), had:
    • Charlotte E. (1892?) married Robert Sanders (1890-1960), had:
      • Betty Lee (1920)
      • Sally Ann (1925)
      • Samuel Mayes (1929-1989)
    • Pearl Christine (1894)
    • Ruth (1897)
    • Sarah (1900)
• John Thompson (1826-1865) married Cynthia Pack Davis
• Frank Asbury (1828-1863)
• James Allen (1832-1891) married Annie Foster, had:
  • Sallie (1879)
• Joel Bryan (Tsa-wa-gak-ski) (1833-1891) married Mary Delilah Vann (1838-1912)
• Rachel (1836) married Cullough McNair
• William Henry (Tip) (1842-?) married Rachel May
• Samuel Houston (1845-1927) married Martha Elizabeth Vann (1852-1907), had:
  • Joseph Francis (1877-1940)
  • William Lucullus (1874-1948) married Mary Llewellyn Morgan (1877-1937), had:
    • Martha Llewellyn (1902)
    • Cullen Morgan (1908)
  • Martha Carrie (1880) married Clarence Samuels (1876), had:
    • Clarence L. (1909)
    • Martha Elizabeth (1914)
• Wiley Beam Mayes (1848-1930) married Emma Bombrake (1854-1877), had:
  • Thompson (1873-1899)
  • Simon B. (1876)
• Noel French (1851)

Samuel Mayes’ Siblings:

• Lucy Ann Mayes (1789-1867) married George Ward (1787-1864) had:
  • Charlotte Elizabeth 1808-1857) married John Henry Stover
  • Sabrina (1807-1883) married Felix Arthur, had:
    • Lucy Gertrude (1828-1886) married Issac Nidiffer (1818-1890), had:
      • Samuel
      • Sabrina
      • Freeman
  • Sally (1830-1917)
  • John M. (1813-1845) married Narcissa Monroe (1820-1876), had:
    • George Monroe (1842-1916)
    • Nancy (1844)
    • Lucy Ann (1846)
  • James (1815-1868) married Louisa M. Williams
  • Martha (1819-1865) married John J. Countryman
  • Mary (1821-1862) married Joseph Henry Clark
  • Samuel Mayes Ward (1823-1897) married Louisa England (1836-1866), had:
    • Valzie Lucy (1845)
    • Delena (1864)
  • Nannie (1826-1867) married William Dameron (1808-1876), had:
    • Susan Francis (1850-1891)
  • Melinda Josephine (1828) married Thornton
  • Susie (1832-1866), married Joshua Lindsay (1829-1863), had:
    • Malinda (1855)
    • Margaret (1856)
    • Sabrina (1860)
• Nancy Ward Mayes (1795-1876) married John Bryan, had:
  • James (1791-1885)
  • Terrence 1792-1885)
  • Elizabeth (1797-1886)
  • Joel Mayes (1809-1898) married Rebecca Wright (1814-1882), had:
    • Joel Mayes (1850-1939)
• Charlotte Mayes (1792) married David Allison

Samuel Mayes’ parents:

• John Mayes (1768-1822) and Charlotte Samuels (1770-1803)

Samuel Mayes’ paternal grandparents:

• Lt. Andrew Mayes (1740-1799) and Mary Rutherford (1745-1819)

Samuel Mayes’ maternal grandparents:

• Joseph Samuels (1730-?) and Charlotte (1750-1819)

Samuel Mayes’ great-great grandparents:

• Thomas Washington Mayes (1701-1764) and Margaret Houston (1710-1782)
• Thomas F. Rutherford (1707-1777) and Jean Mordah (1712-1789)

Samuel Mayes’ great-great-great grandparents:

• James Mayes (1670-1733) and Rebecca Richards (1675-1731)

Samuel Mayes’ great-great-great-great grandparents:

• John Mayes (1635-1695) and Elizabeth Bessie Kaye (1640-1685)

Samuel Mayes’ great-great-great-great-great grandparents:

• John Mayes (1595-1636) and Elizabeth Cox (1601-1645)

Grandchildren:

From Sarah A. Mayes and William England:

• Joseph M. (2/22/1870) married Sarah Scraper (6/7/1880), had:
  • William L. (2/19/1898)
  • Virgil (6/6/1900)
  • Pauline (1/2/1902)
  • Dudley (3/21/1903)
  • Henry (12/23/1904)
• Lucy Ann (6/5/1873-1/14/1958) married Thomas N. Chitwood (1864-1933), had:
  • Walter Newton (1891-1970) married Beatrice Tiblow (1897-1931), had:
    • Juanita Charlotte (10/27/1914-1985)
    • Walter Newton, Jr. (1916-1960)
  • Mamie Josephine (1894-1964) married Charles Gilbert (1887-1964), had:
    • Lorena M. (1914-1972)
    • Walter Franklin (1915-1982)
    • John Nathan (1923-1976)
  • Homer Floyd (1899-1985)
• George Washington (9/22/1875-3/28/1912) married Nellie White (1875-1906), had:
  • Flossa May (8/29/1898-10/27/1987) married Joseph D. Barnard (1900-1997), had:
    • Patty
  • Lura Elizabeth (11/29/1900)
  • Georgie Lucille (8/25/1903-May 1985) married Lewis Allen Blevins

From Sarah A. Mayes and Charles F. McGinnis

• William Townsend (2/14/1880-9/5/1955) married Grace F. Prichard (1885-1955), had:
  • Christine G. (1903)
  • Atha A. (1907-1998)
  • Clarence F. (1908-1972)
  • Sarah Lucille (1910-2002)
  • Wilma Mearl (1914-2005)
  • Lottie Mae (1916-2006)
• Charlotte Elizabeth (4/16/1883-3/25/1948) married Samuel Charley (1875-1959), had:
  • William Campbell Charley (ca 1900-6/20/1952)
• Cleveland Charles (3/4/1885-10/14/1970)

From Charlotte Mayes and William Houston Ballard:

• Jana Anna (1/1/1875-5/28/1956) married Rev. Jesse Lamar (1865-1927)
• Anna Mae (Annie) (7/4/1877-12/27/1932) married Crawford Connor (1881-1938), had:
  • Francis William (6/161902-1921)
  • Marvin Rogers (7/24/1904)
  • Millard (5/9/1906)
  • Ruth Faye (2/17/1907-12/8/2000)
  • Rebecca (4/26/1914)
• Lucinda (6/11/1879-8/5/1932) married William Lee Harlan (1874-1956), had:
  • Grace Leota (7/4/1905)
  • Vanney (7/27/1907)
  • Jewell Bernice (3/12/1913)
  • William Lee (7/20/1920-1983)
• Sarah Eleanor (12/21/1881-6/10/1944) married Roy Wood (1881-1960)
• William Houston (5/29/1884-1951) married Anna Buchanan (1889-1910), had:
  • Tesquantnee Swimmer (2/141906-12/15/1968)
• Ruth May (7/4/1887-1/23/1965) married Frank Hardy Fleming (1885-1926), had:
  • James William (3/27/1909-7/18/1949)
  • Clifford Ballard (5/28/1918-12/31/1991) married Helen Harris
  • Mary Florita (3/25/1920-2/27/2016) married Monty Hubert Richardson (1918)
  • Joe Lindsey (3/24/1921-12/12/1971) married Lucille Ahniwake Miller (1922)
• Ethel Savilla (4/1/1880-1/31/1953) married Robert Mayfield Hall (1890-1953)
• Zorina Wyly (5/20/1882-2/26/1971) married Oscar Harold Bunch (1897-1963), had:
  • Dorothy L. (1927-1941)
• Jack (1873-1877)

From Elmira Mayes and William John Gladney:

• Joseph Foreman (6/11/1878-1/3/1958) married Mary Jane Dobson (1883-1961), had:
  • Ross Dobson (9/1/1908-8/3/1965)
  • Jackson (10/1/1910-6/13/1982)
  • Joe Wayne (12/15/1912-10/28/2005)
  • Mary Elizabeth (5/3/1921-9/1/2008) married Louis Vincent Hart
  • Peggy (7/24/1924-5/24/2008) married Robert Lane Cloer
• Annie L. (1/22/1881-1915) married Elmer McKinney (1870-1946), had:
  • John Gladney (10/2/1904-1973)
• Mary Mollie (1883-1906) married Jesse Beck (1881)
• Henry S. (1/27/1886)
• Minnie Bell (8/6/1888-3/2/1968) married David McMahon (1893-1963), had:
  • Helen M. (1915-2002) married Alpert E. Rupard (1914-1994)
  • Curtis Roy (1914-2004)
  • David Lee (1921-2000)
  • Betty Jean (2/15/1925-2005) married Leslie Raymond Pope (1916-1996)
• Charlotte Lottie (11/5/1890-1928)
• Elizabeth B. (5/6/1893-1909)
• John Rogers (7/1/1897-6/19/1970) married Louise Powers, had
  • Juanita Margaret (3/1/1915-2/13/2001) married Roy Alton Baughman

From Elmira Mayes and Daniel Finn

• Cynthia Ellen (3/23/1874-1/21/1965) married Archibald Leroy Ballard (1877-1953)
  •  Ella Mae (7/19/1902)
  • Cherokee Emira (9/19/1903)
  • Fanny Elizabeth (3/23/1905)
  • Randolph L. (1907)
  • Charles G. (1908)

From William Penn Mayes and Annie Harper Gladney:

• Margaret May (8/22/1878-2/17/1954) married James Polk Thompson (1877-1953), had:
  • James Mayes (9/1/1901-5/6/1962) married Louise Pearson (1903-1977)    
  • Claude Elmo (11/19/1903-8/11/1968) married Ruth Ann Collins (1907-1983)
• Nellie Maud (4/14/1880-7/2/1954) married William Barnes, had:
  • William Harvey (1/13/1915-2/18/2007) married Mildred E. Norsworthy (1918-2009)
• Claude (12/ 7/1882-1899)
• Joel Bryan (1/7/1884-1948) married Josie Bates (1890-1988)
• Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bell (10/30/1885-late 1950s) married Frank Miller (1882-1932)
• Ridge Parker (9/22/1888-8/21/1961), married Hattie Bosse (1888-1987), had:                 
  • Chester Ridge (2/8/1911-12/1/1999), married Virginia Atwood (1916-1993)
  • Elizabeth Ann (10/11/1916-2/22/1992), married William Frederick Madison (1916-1992)
• Mary Hazel (1/28/1894-1954), married Les Lycan (1891-1925), had:
  • Mary (7/12/1924-12/25/2002), married Marshall W. Crotts (1924-2005)

Great-grandchildren born before Annie’s death in 1910:

From Lucy Ann England and Thomas Chitwood:

• Walter Newton (1891)
• Mamie J. (1894)
• Homer Floyd (1899)

From Joseph M. England and Sally Scraper:

• William L. (2/19/1898)
• Virgil (6/6/1900)
• Pauline (1/2/1902)
• Dudley (3/21/1903)
• Henry (12/23/1904)

From George W. England and Margaret White:

• Flossa M. (8/29/1898)
• Lura E. (11/29/1900)
• Georgia L. (8/25/1903)

From William T. McGinnis and Grace Prichard:

• Christine (1903)
• Atha (1907)
• Clarence (1908)

From Charlotte Elizabeth McGinnis and Samuel Charley:

• William Campbell Charley (1900)

From Maggie May Mayes and James Polk Thompson:

• James Mayes (9/1/1901)
• Claude Elmo (11/19/1903)

From Anna Mae Ballard and Crawford Connor:

• Francis Connor (6/16/1903)
• Marvin Rogers (7/24/1904)
• Millard (5/9/1906)
• Ruth (2/27/1907)

From Lucinda Ballard and William Lee Harlan:

• Grace Leota (7/4/1905)
• Vanney (7/27/1907)

From William Houston Ballard and Anna Buchanan:

• Tesquantee Swimmer (2/14/1906)

From Cynthia Ellen Finn and Archibald Leroy Ballard:

• Ella Mae (7/19/1902)
• Cherokee Elmira (9/19/1903)
• Fannie Elizabeth (3/23/1905)
• Randolph L. (1907)
• Charles G. (1908)

From Joesph Foreman Gladney and Mary Jane Dobson:

• Ross (9/1/1908)

From Annie Gladney and Elmer McKinney:

• John (10/2/1904)

From Ruth May Ballard and Frank Hardy Fleming:

• James William (3/27/1909)