68 MYTHS OF THE CHKROKEE [eth.ann.id 



until Wayne's dcci.sive victory over the confederated northern tri))e.s 

 in 17H-i and the tinal destruction of the Nickajack towns in the same 

 year did real peace came to the frontier. 



By deed of cession of February 25, I7l»(), Tennessee ceased to be a 

 part of North Carolina and was organized under federal laws as "'The 

 Territorj' 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 tirst territorial governor and also superintendent for the 

 southern Indians, with a deputy resident with each of the four prin- 

 cipal tribes.' Pensacola, [Mobile. St. Louis, and other southern posts 

 were still held by the Spaniards, who claimed the whole country south 

 of the Cmnberland, while the British garrisons had not yet been with- 

 drawn 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 fron- 

 tier were of common occurrence. At this time, according to the 

 official report of President Washington, over live hundred families of 

 intruders were settled upon lands belonging rightly to the Cherokee, 

 in addition to those between the French Broad and the Holston.^ 

 More than a year before the Secretary of War had stated that ' ' the 

 disgraceful violation of the treaty of Hopewell with the ( 'herokee 

 requires the serious consideration of Congress. If so direct and man- 

 ifest contempt of the authority of the United States be suffered with 

 impunit}', it will be in vain to attempt to extend the arm of govern- 

 ment 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."' To prevent any increase of the dissatisfaction, the 

 general government issued a proclamation forbidding any further 

 encroachment upon the Indian lands on Tennessee river; notwith- 

 standing which, early in 17l»l, 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 lilockhouse and other defensive works. 

 Immediately afterward the Cherokee chief. Glass, with a))Out 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 lire to the buildings and 

 reduced them to ashes.* 



To forestall more serious difficulty it was neces.^^ary to negotiate a 

 new treaty with a view to purchasing the disputed territory. Accord- 

 ingly, 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. hlH, 541, 561, 1853. 



2 Washington to the Senate. August U,1790. .\merican State Papers: Inajan .\fTairs, I,p..s3, 1832. 

 ^Secretary Kno.\ to President Washington, July 7, 17*9, ibid., p. .53. 



^ Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 550, -551. 



