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Show 6 8 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [ ETH. AXN. 19 until Wayne's decisive victory over the confederated northern tribes in 1794 and the final destruction of the Nickajack towns in the same year did real peace came to the frontier. By deed of cession of February 25, 1790, Tennessee ceased to be a part of North Carolina and was organized under federal laws as kfc The Territory of the United States south of the Ohio river," preliminary to taking full rank as a state six years later. William Blount ( 27) was appointed first territorial governor and also superintendent for the southern Indians, with a deputy resident with each of the four principal tribes. 1 Pensacola, Mobile, St. Louis, and other southern posts were still held by the Spaniards, who claimed the whole country south of the Cumberland, while the British garrisons had not yet been withdrawn from the north. The resentment of the Indians at the occupancy of their reserved and guaranteed lands by the whites was sedulously encouraged from both quarters, and raids along the Tennessee frontier were of common occurrence. At this time, according to the official report of President Washington, over five hundred families of intruders were settled upon lands belonging rightly to the Cherokee, in addition to those between the French Broad and the Holston. 2 More than a year before the Secretary of War had stated that " the disgraceful violation of the treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee requires the serious consideration of Congress. If so direct and manifest contempt of the authority of the United States be suffered with impunity, it will be in vain to attempt to extend the arm of government to the frontiers. The Indian tribes can have no faith in such imbecile promises, and the lawless whites will ridicule a government which shall on paper only make Indian treaties and regulate Indian boundaries." 8 To prevent any increase of the dissatisfaction, the general government issued a proclamation forbidding any further encroachment upon the Indian lands on Tennessee river; notwithstanding which, early in 1791, a party of men descended the river in boats, and, landing on an island at the Muscle shoals, near the present Tuscumbia, Alabama, erected a blockhouse and other defensive works. Immediately afterward the Cherokee chief, Glass, with about sixty warriors, appeared and quietly informed them that if they did not at once withdraw he would kill them. After some parley the intruders retired to their boats, when the Indians set fire to the buildings and reduced them to ashes. 4 To forestall more serious difficulty it was necessary to negotiate a new treaty with a view to purchasing the disputed territory. Accordingly, through the efforts of Governor Blount, a convention was held with the principal men of the Cherokee at White's fort, now Knox- 1 Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 522,541,561,1853. 3 Washington to the Senate, August 11,1790, American State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, p. 83,1832. a Secretary Knox to President Washington, July 7,1789, ibid., p. 53. 4 Ramsey, op. c i t , pp. 550,551. |
