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Treaty

Cherokee at Tellico (1805)

Two days after the Duck River cession, the Cherokee ceded the South West Point tract and a mail road for $1,600.

Signed
October 27, 1805
Senate
Ratified
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On October 27, 1805, two days after the larger Tellico treaty, Return J. Meigs and Daniel Smith made a second treaty at Tellico with Cherokee chiefs and head men.

Article 1 says it had been "represented" to the Cherokee that the section of land on which the South West Point garrison stands, extending to Kingston, was "likely to be a desirable place for the assembly of the state of Tennessee to convene at." A committee of the state legislature, then in session, had viewed it. The treaty says the Cherokee, "possessed of a spirit of conciliation" and seeing that the tract was "desired for public purposes," would "quit claim and cede" it. They kept the ferries to themselves and also ceded the first island in the Tennessee above the mouth of the Clinch. The public buildings there were to belong to the public.

Article 2 dealt with the mail, which was ordered to run from Knoxville to New Orleans through Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw countries. The Cherokee agreed that U.S. citizens could use "a road leading from Tellico to Tombigbe" freely, laid out by viewers from both sides. In Article 3 the United States agreed to pay $1,600 in money or goods, at the Cherokee's option, within ninety days of ratification.

The Tennessee Encyclopedia says a few days after the main Tellico treaty, an additional payment was made to obtain the rights to operate the mail road.

Good to know. Phrases such as "spirit of conciliation" are the treaty's own framing, not a record of Cherokee views.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. is likely to be a desirable place for the assembly of the state of Tennessee to convene atTreaty with the Cherokee, 1805 (Oct. 27) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. free and unmolested use of a road leading from Tellico to TombigbeTreaty with the Cherokee, 1805 (Oct. 27) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. the United States agree to pay to the said Cherokee Indians sixteen hundred dollars in money, or useful merchandise at their optionTreaty with the Cherokee, 1805 (Oct. 27) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  4. a few days later, an additional payment was made to obtain the rights to operate a mail road from Tellico to the Tombigbee RiverTreaties (Tennessee Encyclopedia)

Research notes. The treaty's words about a 'spirit of conciliation' and the tract being 'desired for public purposes' are the document's own framing, not an independent account of Cherokee views. No acreage is stated.

What the treaty did to the land

Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Native legal and land defense, nationally

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-cherokee-1805-0084reference work
    Oct. 27, 1805. | 7 Stat., 95. / scan: 84 TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEJ<:, 1805.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.