I.^]>^D CESSION^S 



INDIAN TRIBES FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO AND INCLUDING 

 THE DATE OF TREATY, LAW OR EXECUTIVE ORDER GOVERNING THE SAME, 

 AND HISTORICAL DATA AND REFERENCES BEARING THEREON. 



This western boundary is described as beginning at the month of a creek about 

 •t miles E. of Niagara, called Ovonwayea or Johnston's Lauding Place, on the 

 lake mimed by the Indians Oswego and bj' us Ontario; as running thence 

 southerly always 4 miles E. of the carrying path between Lake Erie aud 

 Ontario to the mouth of Tehoseroron or Buffalo creek on Lake Erie; thence 

 S. to the north boundary of Pennsylvania ; theuce W. to the end of said north 

 boundary ; thence S. along the west boundary of said state to the Ohio river. 

 This boundary is shown on the map of New Vork by a dotted black line. 



The cession within the state of New York herein made consisted of all that 

 portion of the state lying N. of said described boundary line, except that 

 portion of the "4-mile strip'' extending from Oyouwayea to Fort Schlosser, 

 which had already been ceded to the I3ritish in 1765. It also included all 

 claim the Six Nations had by right of conquest to territory W. of the Ohio 

 river, but which is covered by the re specific cessions of other tribes. It 

 further includi'd all that part of Pennsylvania lying N. and W. of the bound- 

 ary line established by treaty of Nov. 5, 1768, between the Six Nations and the 

 British superintendent of Indian affairs as shown on map of that state, 

 colored green. The cession herein made was afterward renewed and con- 

 firmed ( in order to remove dissatisfaction among a portion of the Six Nations) 

 by treaty of Jan. 9, 178it. At a subsequent treaty made Nov. 11, 1794, that 

 portion of the cession above desciibed lying within the state of New York 

 (except the I-mile tract from Oyonwayea tn Fort Schlosser) was relinquished 

 by the U. S. aud declared to be within the rightful bouudaries of the Seueka 

 nation. 



This treaty was never carried into effect, owing to the hostile attitude assumed 

 by a large projxirtion of the Ohio tribes, and it was finally superseded by the 

 treaty of Aug. 3, 179."), at Greenville. 



The Cherokee ceded to the U. S. all claim they had to the country lying N. 

 and E. of this line. The country thus ceiled comprised a tract in North 

 Carolina lying W. of the ]51ue Ridge and also a tract in Tennessee and Ken- 

 tucky lying S. of Cumberland river. The third clause in the description is 

 somewhat ambiguous. Construed literally aud directly it would imjily that 

 the "NE. line" should be run (southwestward) from a point on I'liuiberhind 

 river 40 miles above Nashville ; and in his exhaustive discu.ssiou of the treaty 

 iu his memoir, " The Cherokee Nation of Indians" (Fifth Annual Re]iort of 

 the Bureau of Ethnology, 1887, p. 153), Royce intimates that it w.as in 

 order to take advantage of the Indians that a less direct construetion was 

 adopted. This indirect con.struction would seem to require modilieation in 

 the punctuation, so that the clause might read, e. g., ihciicc eustn-ariUii alonif 

 the siiid ridye io a JS'E. line, to he run, which shall strike the river Cnmherhinil, 40 

 miles above Nashville: or a transposition of the ideas expressed by the suc- 

 cessive phrases, so that the clause might read, e. g., thence eautwardhj alonfi 

 the said ridtje to a XIC. line to he run 40 miles above Kashvillc, which shall 

 strike the rirer Cnmherland; i. e., the construction involves the supposition 

 that the phrase " 40 miles above Nashville" relates to the ridge and not to the 

 river. Actually the line was not run for a dozen years, and meantime the 

 indirect construction w.as atifiriiied by the language used in the treaty of 

 1791. When the line was finally surveyed by General Winchester, iu the 

 autumn of 1797, it would apjiear that the usual discrepancies between the 

 boundary as defined on paper and that traced on the ground were intiodiieed. 

 Alter much research Koyce was able to retrace Winehester's devious line 

 with satisfactory accuracy, and makes use of it as the boundary on his ma]i 

 (loc. cit.. plate viii) ; but since the direct line is more nearly in accord with the 

 language of the treaty, and since no material interests are now involved, it 

 lias been adoiited in the aceouqianyiug map. To facilitate comparison, the 

 Wmehester lino is retained, and to permit ocular comparison between the 

 boundaries as deliued by the two constructions of the ambiguous clause, 

 the line defined by the direct construction is introduced also. — W J M. 



(Dotted 

 black 

 line.) 



Pennsylvania. 



Tennessee and border- 

 ing States. 



