OCR Text |
Show 84 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [ ETH. ANN, 19 North Carolina, where they made friendly acquaintance with the Cherokee. 1 In 1799, hearing that the Cherokee desired teachers- or perhaps by direct invitation of the chiefs- two missionaries visited the tribe to investigate the matter. Another visit wa^ made in the next summer, and a council was held at Tellico agency, where, after a debate in which the Indians showed considerable difference of opinion, it was decided to open a mission/ Permission having been obtained from the government, the work was begun in April, 1801, by Rev. Abraham Steiner and Rev. Gottlieb Byhan at the residence of David Vann, a prominent mixed- blood chief, who lodged them in his own house and gave them every assistance in building the mission, which they afterward called Spring place, where now is the village of the same name in Murray county, northwestern Georgia. They were also materially aided by the agent, Colonel Return J. Meigs ( 32). It was soon seen that the Cherokee wanted civilizers for their children, and not new theologies, and when they found that a school could not at once be opened the great council at Ustanali sent orders to the missionaries to organize a school within six months or leave the nation. Through Vann's help the matter was arranged and a school was opened, several sons of prominent chiefs being among the pupils. Another Moravian mission was established by Reverend J. Gambold at Oothcaloga, in the same county, in 1821. Both were in flourishing condition when broken up, with other Cherokee missions, by the State of Georgia in 1834. The work was afterward renewed beyond the Mississippi. 8 In 1804 the Reverend Gideon Blackburn, a Presbyterian minister of Tennessee, opened a school among the Cherokee, which continued for several years until abandoned for lack of funds. 8 Notwithstanding the promise to the Cherokee in the treaty of 1798 that the Government would " continue the guarantee of the remainder of their country forever," measures were begun almost immediately to procure another large cession of land and road privileges. In spite of the strenuous objection of the Cherokee, who sent a delegation of prominent chiefs to Washington to protest against any further sales, such pressure was brought to bear, chiefly through the efforts of the agent, Colonel Meigs, that the object of the Government was accomplished, and in 1804 and 1805 three treaties were negotiated at Tellico agency, by which the Cherokee were shorn of more than eight thousand square miles of their remaining territory. By the first of these treaties- October 24, 1804- a purchase was made of a small tract in northeastern Georgia, known as the " Wafford i North Carolina Colonial Records, v, p. x, 1887. sRcichel, E. H., Historical Sketch of the Church and Missions of the United Brethren, pp. 65- 81; Bethlehem, Pa., 1848; Holmes, John, Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethren, pp. 124,125, 209- 212; Dublin, 1818: Thompson, A. C, Moravian Missions, p. 341; New York, 1890; De Scbweinitz, Edmund, Life of Zeisberger, pp. 394, 663, 696; Phila., 1870. 8 Morse, American Geography, i, p. 577,1819. |